Time For Me
by EmySabath
Summary: Voldemort has a plan to catch Harry out of bounds and cast a spell to send him back two hundred years, but all does not go as planned and Harry isn't as gone as he'd thought...
1. Prologue Chapter 1:Back to Basics

Prologue:

Seventh year had been a hard year for Harry so far, and it was little over a month into the term. His schoolwork was suffering, his spellwork was suffering, and, as much as he tried to hide it, Ron and Hermione's newfound love left him feeling even more isolated. He had known for a while that it had to happen - after all, only a total idiot could miss the significant way the two had looked at each other for years - but it had still come as a bit of a shock the first time he'd seen them kiss.

Dumbledore was giving every appearance of trying to include Harry in the workings of the Order, but he was the only one. Well, he and Remus. Everyone else treated Harry like either something fragile or, in the case of Professor Snape, something disgusting. At least the latter he was familiar with after years with the Dursleys. But it just wasn't working, even the Order couldn't distract Harry.

He was obsessed with the idea of the prophecy. According to some words of fate, he, Harry, could only be killed by Voldemort's hand. But why? What would happen if he tried to kill himself?

It was this latter question that he was pondering in the middle of the night on top of the astronomy tower. He was standing on the ledge, looking down at the ground, an inky blackness far below. What would happen if he did it; if he jumped? Would some miracle keep him from dying?

There was a sudden sound from behind and Harry whipped around. Draco Malfoy had just burst through the door.

"Potter! I've got...you..." the Slytherin hesitated. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing that's any of your business, Malfoy!" Harry shot back furiously, storming out and running at top speed through the castle and outside. He could hear his pursuer's footsteps all the way.

"Potter!" Malfoy called after him. "Potter, stop, now!"

Harry ignored him, walking faster across the grounds. He had to get away. Originally, he had been trying to get away from all the concerned looks and the way Dumbledore had hidden something from him during their last meeting, but thankfully the appearance of Draco Malfoy narrowed his purpose to simply escaping the presence of the annoying Slytherin.

Unfortunately, said escape was proving to be much more difficult than he'd previously thought. Now Harry was all but running toward the Forbidden Forest in an effort to get the other boy to turn back. It almost seemed like a game of chicken; who would turn back first, Harry from the forest or Malfoy from Harry? Because Harry certainly wasn't going to let Malfoy catch up.

Finally, he reached the edge of the trees. With barely a pause for breath, he plunged in to the shadows that were darker, even, than the moonless night around them. Unable to stop a tremor of fear running through him at the thought of going further into the forest at night, Harry changed tactics and hid behind a tree, waiting for Malfoy to run past so that he could leave his rival out in the forest.

Sure enough, no more than a few seconds had passed when Malfoy came barreling by. However, Malfoy seemed to have some sixth sense that told him where Harry was, because he promptly stopped, spun on his heel, and marched back to Harry, who was still leaning against the tree.

"Potter," Malfoy said, slightly breathless, "what the hell were you doing back there?"

"What did it look like, Malfoy?" Harry snapped.

"It looked like you were about to jump off the bloody tower!" Malfoy looked absolutely confused, and almost seemed to be sulking, as though some favorite toy had just been taken from him.

"Well...what business is it of yours, anyway?" Harry sneered, attempting to ignore the hot twinge of shame in his gut. "I figured you'd just be dancing for joy if I offed myself."

Malfoy looked like he was about to respond when suddenly Harry froze and, slowly, raised one hand to his scar, which had just begun to burn terribly. On some impulse, Harry grabbed Malfoy and swung the Slytherin behind him, hiding him.

"Well, well, well," said a serpentine voice from the shadows deeper in the forest, "what have we here? A young Gryffindor wandering out of bounds on a night like this?"

"Stuff it, Riddle," Harry snapped, "I'm hardly in the mood tonight."

"Ah, but Harry, it hardly maters what mood you are in now," Voldemort hissed languidly, "for you will have a very long time to change." Before Harry had a chance to think what that might mean, Voldemort had raised his wand.

"_Tempus expugno!_" The Dark Lord cried, and watched as the seventeen-year-old was whipped away in a burst of light. Quite spontaneously, one of the Death Eaters hiding in the trees burst into enthusiastic applause.

"Well done! Well done!" he exclaimed, splitting apart from his fellows to stand just a few feet from Voldemort. "Of course, it was my spell, but you executed it perfectly! Although, I must apologize, as I didn't make it to your exact specifications. It won't send the boy back two hundred years, instead it will send him back to the summer of 1977, but I'm certain this will work out best for the world."

"What are you blabbing about, Aries?" Voldemort asked, becoming irritated. "And what do you mean you didn't make it as I asked? Do you presume to know better than I what will work out for our plan?"

"Of course not," Aries went on without blinking. "After all, that's not what I said, is it? I said this would work out best for the _world_, your plans are hardly looking out for the betterment of the world. And really, this unhealthy obsession with conquering Europe can't be good for your blood pressure, either."

"Aries, what the devil are you doing?!" Severus cried, breaking ranks as well and rushing up to grab Aries' arm.

"Sorry about all this, Sev," Aries said lightly, making no attempt to pull away, "but I couldn't very well have told you, could I?"

"Told him what?!" Voldemort snapped angrily. Ordinarily he would have already punished one of his other Death Eaters for such mouthy behavior, but Aries was dear to him. He didn't want to damage such an adept mind with potentially unnecessary torture.

"For Merlin's sake, have none of you figured it out yet? I thought it would be pretty obvious after I told you when he was sent. Perhaps I've overestimated you all," Aries sighed exasperatedly and raised his wand, tapping it on his forehead. "_Finite Incantatum_."

Immediately, his light brown hair, caught up in a queue that reached down to his shoulder-blades, deepened into jet black, his skin turned from luxuriously tanned to a slightly lighter shade, his eyes shifted dramatically from blue to brilliant green and thick, black glasses appeared in front of them.

"Harry Potter?!" about twenty Death Eaters gasped.

"The one and only." He spared a glance at the tree where his younger self had just been standing. "Well, now that you've sent away my double, that is."

There was a pause as the Death Eaters looked to Voldemort to see how he would react. The Dark Lord took a few seconds to regain his composure after a moment of crushing disappointment and, though he would never admit it, fear.

"So you're saying that my most faithful follower, my most devout servant, the only person I trusted with access to my personal library, is Harry Potter?" Voldemort laughed. "What would your dear parents think of you now, my jinx-smith?"

"They would be proud as can be, Riddle," Harry sneered. "You forget, thanks to you, I got the chance to know them. Oh, and it might be worth mentioning that I'm not the only one you sent back. I'm afraid that both a Slytherin and a Gryffindor were out of bounds tonight. Lucius, say hello to your son."

Lucius Malfoy dropped to his knees in shock as Harry's words hit him. If there was one thing in all the world that Lucius had ever cared about, it was his son. While the Death Eater tried to wrap his mind around a fact he didn't want to be true, Harry waved over a person who had gone unnoticed standing in the shadow of Hagrid's hut.

"Hello," said the figure, a tall, thin man with strawberry-blonde hair in a crew cut above his slightly freckled face. "My name is Charles Higgins III. Though, I suppose most of you know me better by a different name and face." He, too, performed the counter-spell on himself and shimmered into an ethereally pale platinum blonde. "Hello father. Wish I could say it's good to see you again, but quite frankly I got bored of you when I was back in school."

"Draco?" Lucius gasped, falling to his knees. "You...you were that horrible Higgins brat? What about the American family at your graduation? The generations of accurate background information at the ministry?"

"Well, thanks to Harry we were able to slip some phony documents into your hands whenever you went looking where you shouldn't have," Draco said, walking calmly to stand by Harry's side. Severus was by now gawking in open shock. "As a matter of fact, Harry was a right chap, while you were nothing but some lazy, pride-less worm. Didn't even stand up for poor Sev here when he'd bite off more than he could chew with Potter and Black. The two of you could have easily matched the two of them. Have you no sense of Slytherin solidarity, father?"

"You might want to rethink the whole frontal attack strategy," Harry told them conspiratorially. "I've kept in close contact with Dumbledore and his group, and at any time I can call for back up, though I would be surprised if Dumbledore isn't already on his way. After all, we gave him a detailed account of where and when we were sent back from, so he's well aware you're here."

"Blasted menace!" Voldemort shouted, raising his wand. "_Flagellatus!_"

"_Inlaedus_," Harry countered lazily. "You forget, I've specially designed most of your curses, and I alone know each and every counter-curse by heart and wand."

With one last glare, Voldemort and his Death-Eaters, including Snape, disapparated with a series of loud bangs.

"Think Sev'll be alright?" Harry asked worriedly. Draco rolled his eyes and clapped him on the shoulder.

"If we weren't already sure of that, we would have changed the plan, Harry," Draco said with confidence.

"I know, I just feel bad about shocking him like that," Harry shrugged. "It sure does feel odd to be back in my own skin. At least you look less like a spitting-image of Lucius than we'd feared."

"Indeed," Draco smirked at him. "You, as well, look nothing like Potter." They both now understood the surname to apply to James, and not to Harry. "Though that could be because you're an age he never reached."

The formerly tender subject of his parents' deaths had cooled quite a bit over the years, and Harry took the comment in good humor.

"You do realize that, to their reckoning, we were _children_ just minutes ago?" he asked somberly.

"Well, let them worry about that. Come on, we'd better get up to the castle. I prepared some tea before I left, and it should still be nice and hot."

Harry took a deep breath, smiled, and let himself be led up the steps to the castle. As soon as they opened the giant double-doors, they realized that they were quite correct in their assumption that Dumbledore had figured it out.

"Harry! And Draco!" the headmaster exclaimed, striding quickly forward from a side passage and checking them out with his wand. "Or perhaps you are more used to being called Aries and Charles?"

"Either would work fine, headmaster," Harry said shrugging. He was about to congratulate the wry old man on figuring them out when two other voices squeaked out of the darkness.

"Harry?"

"Ron! Hermione!" Harry cried. "Oh, it's so good to see you again!"

"Again? What do you mean, mate?" Ron asked quizzically, removing the invisibility cloak and stepping nearer after a wary glance at the headmaster. "Bloody hell! You're old!"

"I am not!" Harry sputtered indignantly. Draco swallowed a snigger and Harry shot him a dirty look that reminded him, quite clearly, that they were the same age. "I'll have you know I'm only 37; and I should be the one cursing - I've got twenty years on you and you're still taller than me!"

Ron gaped at him for a moment, then caught sight of Malfoy.

"And look at him! The Slytherin is all grown up, too! He did this to you, didn't he Harry? I'll get him for you!" He rolled up his sleeves as if to do just that, but Harry grasped his wrists in a surprisingly firm grip and held him off.

"Steady there, Ron," he said, an amused light in his eyes. "First of all, I'm quite capable of fighting my own battles. Second, Draco did not do this to me, I did this to us."

"What is it?" Hermione asked, looking him over from head to foot. "An aging potion? But you must have drunk a whole cauldron-full each to have aged twenty years."

"Nothing so simple, Hermione," Harry said, drawing himself up.

Draco sighed and conjured himself a chair. Harry wasn't very chatty, but get him on the subject of the intricacies of spells he had created and the Gryffindor could talk the ears off a brick wall.

"It's actually rather complicated. You see, I was asked to make a spell to send myself back in time two hundred years, but I was already aware it wouldn't send me back near that far. So what I did was I created a spell that would send a person back in time ten years and one month for each wave of the wand, but told Voldemort it was a century to a wand wave. I had to convince him not to practice on anything, though, because he would have easily sensed the lack of power in the spell, and that was difficult, but it was all worth it. I've been working on that spell for over a year now, and I finally got to see it pay off."

"Wait, wait, wait," Hermione held up her hands. Draco was grateful; he knew Harry was just getting warmed up. "You 'told Voldemort'? He was the one who asked you to make the spell?"

Harry nodded, pleased that his brilliant friend had picked up on this detail.

"And why were you working for Voldemort?" Hermione asked faintly, she had gone a little green.

"Maybe I ought to start from the beginning," said Harry a little sheepishly.

"Good idea, genius boy," Draco said with a slight smirk. "Now if we could only get you to decide where the beginning of the story _is_..."

Ron's face turned red and he opened his mouth angrily to reply, but Harry beat him to it by laughing out loud.

"Ha, got you there, mate," Harry said triumphantly. "The story quite obviously begins in the Astronomy tower."

"Wrong again, Slythindor," Draco countered. "Of course, _you_ wouldn't know it, but the story actually begins with Professor Higgins telling me you were up there."

"You _told_..." Harry stammered, then laughed again. "You little sneak! All right, if you know so much, you tell it."

"Fine, I will," Draco stood up and took on the air of lecturer that Hermione found distinctly familiar. "The story begins with me doing my normal prefect rounds around the castle. I was on the fifth floor when Professor Higgins came along and asked me how I was doing. He kept glancing at his watch, then he told me it might be a good idea if I hurried up to the Astronomy Tower. He said it in such a Slytherin way that I just couldn't resist. And what did I find up in the tower but this git about to commit suicide." He jerked his thumb at Harry.

"WHAT?" Hermione, Ron, and Dumbledore exclaimed at once. Harry backed away in mock-alarm.

"Whoa, calm down. I was a troubled teen, what can I say?" he said. "Believe me, the urge is completely gone."

"Besides, my bursting in on him ruined his whole melodramatic mood," Draco added. "Although I did have to chase him out into the forbidden forest to get any answers out of him. Of course, we were interrupted in the middle of our discussion by the arrival of one T. M. Riddle, who subsequently transported the both of us back to the summer before term started."

"That's not so bad," Ron remarked obliviously.

"The 1977-78 term," Harry amended.

He was about to continue when the doors opened up again a man in a long black robe limped in.

"Severus! Are you all right?" Harry cried, starting to rush over.

Professor Snape stopped him with a baleful glare. He shifted his hateful gaze over each of them in turn, then silently limped out down a passageway to the dungeons. Draco drew Harry back with a hand on his shoulder.

"He'll be fine," he assured the other man. "We knew it wouldn't be easy when we had to tell him the truth."

Harry nodded and shot the rest of their little group a shaky smile.

"I'm not entirely convinced he won't hate me forever for this," he admitted, "but if I tried to go explain it to him now, I know he'd curse me on sight. So while we let him cool off, how about I finish the story."

"I can't wait to hear this," said Hermione. "You, Malfoy, and Snape _friends_? I wouldn't think even time travel could do that."

Harry and Draco laughed, Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, and Hermione smiled, but Ron just glared at them all. Harry suddenly knew that this was going to be a very long night. With a sigh, he conjured chairs for the rest of them and a table for him to lean against - he had long ago lost the ability to feel safe while sitting - and began a very long tale.

Chapter 1: Back to Basics

There was a bright flash of light and Harry felt something grip his arm tightly as he began to spin. It was like traveling by floo, except instead of fireplaces whirling by, there were flashes that lasted just long enough for him to make out semi-familiar faces and places, but not long enough for him to properly identify them. He tucked his elbows in anyway, drawing the person next to him closer. Relatively soon, the spinning slowed and stopped, and the brightness merged into sunlight.

He was by the lake on the grounds of Hogwarts, just after noon in the middle of the summer, if the shadows and the heat were anything to judge by. And he wasn't alone.

"Get off me, Malfoy," Harry growled, ripping his arm out of the Slytherin's grasp. He started stalking back toward Hogwarts, but Malfoy stopped him, grabbing onto the back of his cloak.

"Potter, do you have any idea what you just did?!" Malfoy practically shrieked.

"Well, I know very well what I didn't do," Harry sneered. "I didn't force you to follow me, I didn't invite Voldemort into the forbidden forest, and I certainly didn't perform whatever curse he threw at us!"

"Tempus Expugno," Malfoy ground out. "Latin for time capture. You just got us sent back in time, you moronic Gryffindor!"

Harry paused a moment to digest this, but it didn't really seem that bad.

"Well, we know we're at Hogwarts, so let's go talk to the current headmaster and have him send us back," he suggested.

"Don't be so optimistic," Malfoy snapped. "There is no way to send us 'back'. We're stuck here."

"Stuck here?" Harry repeated dumbly. "But, wait, why? If we can go back in time, why can't we go forward?"

"Because there is no such thing as forward, Potter! You can only go back in time, because that merely involves retracing the present until you get back to the past, but that consequently means that the present becomes the future, which doesn't exist until it becomes the present again."

Harry blinked, twice.

"What?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes, muttered about the stupidity of Gryffindors in general and stalked off. Harry very deliberately did _not follow_ him, but walked toward the castle, where Malfoy also seemed to be heading. Unfortunately, Malfoy stopped suddenly in front of the main doors and whirled around.

"Let's get one thing straight, Potter," he said firmly. Harry raised an eyebrow at the commanding tone, but said nothing. "I don't fancy mucking up the past here and accidentally preventing my own birth, so no matter what, don't you _dare_ try to change anything."

Harry wanted to protest, there were so many reasons to – the future/present was horrible, so many people's lives could be better if certain truths were known, certain actions prevented; besides, _Malfoy_ was ordering him around – but he knew, though it galled him to admit it even to himself, that Malfoy was right, and that a slip of the tongue could cause disaster.

"Fine," he snarled, then continued as Malfoy started to turn back, "but you know, if we're anywhere near our own time, we'll be recognized on sight. Obviously, we can't tell our names to anyone, but really, we look quite a bit like our parents. We can't just waltz in there and tell the headmaster we're Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy; that would change history all by itself."

Malfoy glared at him and a muscle in his left eyebrow twitched; he looked like he was physically preventing himself from throttling Harry.

"So what are you suggesting, Potter?" he ground out. "That we hide out in complete isolation for however long it takes to get back?"

"I'm suggesting that we create fake identities," Harry said, enunciating clearly. "We can still tell the headmaster that we're from the future, so that he can help us out, but this way he won't know who we are on sight."

Malfoy sat down heavily.

"Jeez, Potter, doesn't take long for you to mess up someone's life, does it?" he muttered.

"Hey, took almost seven years for you," Harry retorted angrily, "my parents only lasted a little over one year."

The Slytherin seemed to come back to himself at that, which made Harry even more disgruntled, but he swallowed it and distracted himself by trying to come up with a fake persona.

"I'm Charles Higgins III," Malfoy announced a few minutes later. "I'm from a wealthy, pureblood, American family who originally came from Britain. After deeming my curriculum at the Salem Institute insufficient, I was sent here to go to Hogwarts. Family ties to the school and whatnot."

Harry thought this over, then shook his head. "You can't be pureblood, too easy to verify," he thought for a moment while Malfoy gaped in outrage. "Your great grandfather, Charles Higgins I, was a squib who moved to America and started the company that has brought your family so much money; but he always stayed faithful to his roots and maintained the family tradition that the next wizard in the family be a Charles Higgins."

"I will NOT pose myself as a mudblood, Potter!" Malfoy shrieked, having found his voice at last.

"Fine," Harry said, shrugging, "then you set yourself up to be found out. Besides, it's not like you wouldn't have _any_ wizarding roots, and you can be just as snobby about the Higgins family business as you could about being a Pureblood Malfoy."

Malfoy sulked and glared, but didn't protest again.

"Well, what about you then? Who're you going to be?" he demanded.

"I don't know, I'm no good at just making stuff up," Harry snorted, "well, unless it's Divinations homework, that is."

"Tell you what, I'll go by your version of the Higgins story, if you be Aries Hesuchazo," Malfoy sneered.

"Why, what's it mean?" asked Harry warily.

"Well, Aries is the Greek god of war, but Hesuchazo means 'to lead a quiet life'. Seems perfect to me. After all, everyone sees you as the High-and-Mighty, Savior of the World, but you're just a big doof with nothing special about him."

"You're right," Harry said with a laugh, startling Malfoy, "that does suit me. All right, I'm Aries Hesuchazo, son of a Greek wizard who left the home country when he was 11, during the second Muggle World War after his parents were killed – doesn't speak hardly a word of the language now – and a muggle-born English witch. Both were educated at Hogwarts – a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw respectively – and my father, after experiencing heavy prejudice because of his house, became paranoid and overprotective, convincing my mother to home-school me until this year, when I convinced them that, since I'm of age, they couldn't really stop me anyway."

Malfoy blinked, seemingly completely stunned by what Harry had come up with. Despite the boy's claims to the contrary, Draco privately thought Harry must be quite good at such things as alibis, once he was given something to work with. It also quite stunned him that Harry would even consider setting his parents up as anything other than tried and true Gryffindors.

"Ah, but how do you know we're even in a time where the second world war would be applicable?" Malfoy asked deviously.

"I don't, but I can change the story as need be," Harry said with a shrug. "Now we just need glamour charms. I want brown hair and I want it long, plus a nice tan for once, and blue eyes. What about you?"

"Why should I have to change anything?" Malfoy growled. "I'm perfect as I am."

Harry's mouth opened and closed like a fish for a moment. "There are just…so many things _wrong_ with that statement," he finally stammered out. "I'll start with strategy first, though. You look like a Malfoy, plain and simple. If we don't change how you look, people will wonder, and that's dangerous. I say strawberry blonde, very short; and no gel, and perhaps change your eyes and skin, too."

"I'll get you for this someday, Potter," Malfoy growled, but he raised his wand and made the appropriate changes.

"Ah ah ah," Harry corrected him, "that's _Hesuchazo_."

With their fake identities firmly in mind, the two time travelers made their way – Malfoy grumbling and Harry strolling pleasantly – to the headmaster's office. There was a brief incident when Harry realized he didn't know the password, but Malfoy just looked down his nose at the Gryffindor and knocked. The gargoyle stepped aside moments later and they both looked up at a hardly-changed Dumbledore.

"Oh, my; and who might you be?" the headmaster asked.

Malfoy stayed sullenly silent through the entire explanation, which was actually quite short, as Harry had to leave out their names and anything that might give away their identities. In the end he settled on saying: "We're victims of time travel from October 26, 1997. Can you tell us when we are?"

Dumbledore's eyebrows lifted clear into his hairline, but he replied, "August 26, 1977." Then, after a significant pause wherein he seemed to be speechless, "Oh _dear_. We'll have to get you two set up right away, term begins in less than a week. You're already wearing glamour, so I trust you had the foresight to make up false histories?"

Harry and Malfoy nodded, and the three of them set about getting Aries Hesuchazo and Charles Higgins III registered at Hogwarts for the 1977-1978 term. Both had been to Hogsmead the day of their transport – it being a Hogsmead weekend – and so they were lucky enough to have funds for books and robes and such in their pockets, and Dumbledore promised to take care of 'everything else'. Just what 'everything else' might be, neither thought to ask.

After a rather loud and insult-filled argument, it was decided that Charles would be put in Gryffindor with Aries, since muggle-born witches and wizards – even those with squib ancestors – were not welcomed in Slytherin under the present climate, and Dumbledore thought it best to keep his two temporally abnormal students together. Harry hoped that Dumbledore wouldn't have to change his mind the hard way after they killed each other off.

Harry, of course – or Aries, as he was now to be known – led the way to Gryffindor tower, giving Malfoy – Higgins – a tour of the basic facilities, including the hazard that was the girls' dormitory stairs. He privately thought it would be far more amusing just to let Higgins find out on his own, but Dumbledore wouldn't have approved, and the former Slytherin would have murdered him for it. Aries figured it would be best to keep the peace for as long as possible.

Unfortunately, that didn't prove to be long as, upon entering the Seventh Year Boys' dorms and noticing the initials monogrammed into the footboards, Harry had to sit down rather suddenly.

"What in the name of Salazar's Staff is wrong now?!" Malfoy snapped, hauling Harry back to his feet.

"We are in _so_ much trouble," Harry muttered. He pointed to each bed in order. "RL – Remus Lupin, SB – Sirius Black, JP – James Potter, and PP – Peter Pettigrew."

There was a long pause, then Malfoy turned around, dragging Harry with him. "That is it," he declared. "I'm having us transferred to Hufflepuff. There is no way I'm sharing a dorm with a mass murderer, a werewolf, and _your_ dead father."

Harry shoved him away and stood, glaring. "Remus Lupin went to extreme measures to ensure he was safe while he was at school. And Sirius Black," he swallowed, "didn't turn traitor until he was 20." _I'm sorry, Sirius, but he can't know._ "I'm not leaving."

"Fine," Malfoy sneered, "but you owe me big."

"'Gryffindor Drools' T-shirt big?" Harry asked warily.

Malfoy shook his head, a cruel smirk playing on his lips. "Throw a Quidditch game big, Potter."

Harry waited two seconds, then responded, "We both play for Gryffindor now, though." He bolted down the rest of the stairs, dodging Malfoy's swinging fist, then yelled over his shoulder, "And it's Hesuchazo!"

The next few days were spent in diligent study for both boys. Not of their new schoolbooks, because those covered the same material as Harry and Malfoy's sixth year. No, they were studying the last three months of Daily Prophet issues. They were surprised to realize that they shared a great appreciation for the dry, factual reporting, quite different from the embellished, ministry-controlled fiction of the present/future. Whenever the news became just too depressing (or dull, to Malfoy) they would challenge each other to expound on their fake pasts. These sparring matches would end when one or the other contradicted himself or fail to answer promptly. The winner then posed either a question or a dare that the loser had to answer or perform.

Harry found himself admitting that he'd almost been a Slytherin and speaking for an entire hour in Parseltongue.

Malfoy found himself telling about his stuffed bear Ponpon and singing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' to the staff at breakfast.

Malfoy relaxed a little more around Harry and stopped being so pushy, apparently thinking anyone worthy of Slytherin couldn't be all bad. Harry went along, comfortable so long as Malfoy wasn't insulting his friends or his parents; and, to tell the truth, he just couldn't reconcile a stuffed-bear-named-Ponpon wielding Malfoy with his image of stuck-up-Avoid-at-all-costs Malfoy. Rather than try to reconcile the two, Harry simply declared the new Malfoy 'Charles Higgins III' in his mind and was done with it. Malfoy did the same and, each with his own new image and name for the other, there were no more near-misses of almost calling the other by their old/future names.

Aries shut his journal after carefully signing his new name at the bottom of the day's entry and activated the locking charm. There were actually two on the book; the main one to prevent just anyone coughCharlescough from reading it, and a second on the first page where Harry had recorded his life-story-in-miniature, just in case the past/present became too much and he had to be obliviated to keep from meddling.

On their fourth day there, Charles had expounded on his explanation as to why they couldn't go forward, back to their own time.

"See, time is like this, okay?" Charles had said in his magicked American accent, spreading out a sheet of parchment. "It's straight and flat and one-dimensional. What happens in time travel is you take a piece of the present," he lifted the edge of the parchment, "and dragged it back to the past," he curled the edge back so it touched the parchment in the middle. "Now, our personal timeline is curled up like this, but the full timeline is still spread out, like this," he slipped a second sheet under the first. "if our timeline were to diverge from the main timeline again – in going forward or in meddling with past events…" he ripped the curled part of the parchment completely away. "It just doesn't work, see? We would be caught in a never-ending loop, because we would cease to exist, which means we never would have meddled, which means time never would have ripped. Of course, things like that don't happen because time can't rip, so we can't change the past and we can't go back to our time. Got it?"

Aries did, at least in general: time was best left alone and Voldemort was a complete and utter prat for messing with it in the first place.

With a sigh, Aries stored the leather-bound book – a gift from Dumbledore – in a hidden compartment in his trunk, a la Moody. He was actually rather proud of his trunk. Instead of using different actual keys, he'd keyed the different compartments to different trunk sizes, using the magnitude of a shrinking spell as the indicator. When it was shrunk down to 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 foot, it opened to reveal a locked Gringotts safe-box with all his remaining money – a grand total of 20 galleons – a letter from Remus he'd received the day before the transportation, a picture of himself, Ron and Hermione, and, of course, the journal.

A part of him sneered that he was being paranoid – _A locked page inside a locked journal inside a locked Gringotts box inside a secret compartment inside a locked trunk?_ – but after having three years of Auror training crammed into his sixth year at Hogwarts and the summers before and after, Harry figured a little paranoia never hurt anybody, while being careless often did.

"Hey!" Charles' voice came through the door, accompanied by several sharp knocks. "Lunch time, Aries. You coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there!" Aries called back, quickly restoring his trunk to its proper size.

He walked out to find Charles slouching against the stairway wall, glaring at an apparently offensive stone opposite him.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Aries asked as they started off to the Great Hall. Charles often had fits of peak, and they always tended to be about the situation in general, but this anger seemed more…currently-based.

"This potions professor," Charles grumbled. "Professor Velveson. I was working on the pathetically-easy summer potions assignment when she comes strolling in and decides to 'help'. As if I need help from her; she isn't even a Potions Master."

"I see what you mean," Aries agreed. "I don't know how I'm going to survive this year without dying of boredom. Everything they'll be learning, we learned last year." He took a breath and let it out again as they sat. "Anyway, up for another sparring match?"

"I'm always ready, goose-brain. Who's turn was it last?"

"Well, I finished off with that question about your aunt, so yours I guess." Aries smirked at the memory; he had asked what sort of hair Aunt Jill had and Charles had told him 'Red. First redhead in the family in fact, spread it around to the rest of us.' Aries had then been forced to point out that, unless Aunt Jill slept around a lot, she couldn't possibly have given Charles his red hair.

"All right, why doesn't your father speak Greek anymore? Wouldn't his aunt and uncle have spoken it when he went to live with them?" Charles asked slyly.

"No, not very much," Aires answered after barely a moment's hesitation. "Uncle Silas moved to England in his early-thirties where he met Auntie Nadia. She, of course, didn't speak Greek at all, so Father had to learn English right off if he wanted to communicate with anyone other than Uncle Silas – who was actually rather a bore. Once out of the habit, it never really came back to him."

The game went back and forth across the Gryffindor table until long after they had cleared their plates. Finally, Aries messed up, accidentally calling 'Auntie Nadia' 'Aunt Nadine'. Aries protested that they were practically the same name, but Charles was correct in stating that it could still make people suspicious, and that was the point of the game – to catch suspicious things before they happened.

"All right, you win," Aries admitted with a sigh. "What's my penalty?"

Charles drank the last of his pumpkin juice and stared at Aries grimly for a while before speaking.

"Why are you so happy here when you were miserable enough to try to commit suicide back home?"

Harry sighed. He had wondered when this would be asked, but after five days he had hoped Malfoy wouldn't bring it up. At least he had seemed sincere in his question, and not as if he was just waiting for something with which to humiliate him.

"Back home," Harry answered with full honesty, deciding for some obscure reason to trust Malfoy – or rather, Charles, "there's a prophecy that states either I will kill Voldemort…or he will kill me. I was just barely of age and the war was already in full swing – I knew it would have to be that year it happened, and it just seemed like too little time. I wasn't prepared, and I didn't want to die by his hand at only 17 years old."

"Wait," Charles interrupted. "You didn't want to die by Voldemort's hand, so you decided to kill yourself? I don't get it; you'd still be dying at only 17."

Harry shook his head and sighed. "I know it wasn't the best logic; but I was trying to prove the prophecy wrong – because if I could kill myself, then maybe Voldemort could be killed by someone other than me. I wanted to prove that I could exist as just myself, without the fancy titles and glory and all. I wanted time – even if it was just the few seconds until I hit the ground – to be whoever I wanted to be."

Charles was nodding, understanding dawning in his eyes. "And here you have that; twenty years," he said softly.

Aries nodded, then grinned. "So you don't have to worry about losing your sparring partner, Higgins, because I think I rather like life now."


	2. Meet the Parents, Time Travel Style

The last day and a half before the students arrived was full of study for Aries. After the OWLs, he had dropped Divination and taken Arithmancy. He had stayed in Care of Magical Creatures only because Hagrid was the teacher – it wasn't a subject that particularly interested him anymore – so now, with Professor Kettleburn teaching instead, he had decided to drop that as well and go into Ancient Runes. However, he'd only taken one year of beginning Arithmancy and had never taken Ancient Runes, so he studied desperately to catch up to the NEWT level so he could take the tests for both. In order to make things easier for himself, he'd also dropped all other classes that didn't have to do with Auror study, leaving him with only Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense, and Potions, all NEWT level.

He felt like Hermione as he tried to stuff several years of learning into a couple days. But at least it kept his mind off the upcoming Welcoming Feast. Whenever he accidentally thought ahead to the inevitable meeting with his parents, godfather, their friend and the traitor a surge of panic rose in him that would take several minutes to dissipate.

An unfortunate side effect of this lack of thought, however, was that he felt completely blindsided when the doors to the Great Hall swung open and a hoard of chattering students entered, lead by the year's Heads Boy and Girl. The noise paused a moment, as the returning students caught a glimpse of Aries and Charles already seated at the Gryffindor table, then returned with fervor. Neither boy had any doubt what the new subject of gossip was.

Aries kept his eyes firmly on the Arithmancy book in his lap, but he could tell without even looking that all the people he was most anxious about seeing had seated themselves around him and Charles. Sure enough, halfway through the sorting, Harry felt a sharp jab to his side, bringing his attention to his 17-year-old dead godfather.

"Oi, who're you then?" Sirius asked in a rather loud whisper. Remus, sitting next to him, smacked him on the head. "Whassat for?"

"How tactless can you get, Sirius?" Remus asked with teasing exasperation. He leaned forward so he had a better line of sight to where Harry sat. "My name is Remus Lupin, and this gormless prat is Sirius Black, what's your name?"

"Ha-Aries, Aries Hesuchazo," Harry stammered.

"You'll have to excuse him," Charles put in from across the table, between James and Lily, "he was home-schooled, not much in the way of social skills. My name is Charles Higgins III."

"Oooh, an American," James said, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting."

"Not really," Aries said, under his breath but loud enough to be heard. Charles shot him a rather peeved look, but Aries just quirked an eyebrow at him, indicating that he was just getting back for the social skills comment.

"Very nice to meet you both, I'm sure," Lily said shortly, "but please, it is time for the sorting. Shush."

"S-sorry," Harry whispered, not wanting to get on his mother's bad side before he was even born. Lily graced him with a small smile, then pointedly turned her attention back to the first year on the stool.

Sirius made faces at her behind her back; someone on Harry's other side laughed – a horribly, high pitched, squeaky snicker – and he turned to see who it was. There, sitting just inches from his left elbow, was Peter Pettigrew. Harry felt his lip draw upwards in the beginnings of a sneer, but a sift kick to his shin stopped him short. Across the table, Charles glared at him. Harry glared back, but turned his attention to the sorting and away from the horrid, traitorous rat sitting next to him.

After the last student was sorted, Dumbledore stood up and called everyone's attention to him.

"I know you are all eager to fill your bellies, but first I know you are also eager to fill your curiosity," he said. "Let me introduce our other two new students, Aries Hesuchazo and Charles Higgins III. Boys, stand up and let everyone see you." Harry and Charles stood, bowed, and sat back down. "As you can see, both have already been sorted into Gryffindor. Aries was schooled by his parents at his home in London, and Charles comes to us from America, where he studied at the Salem Institute. Please make them feel welcome as they spend their last year of schooling here at Hogwarts. Now, there is only one thing to say: Tuck in!"

Food suddenly appeared on the tables and a delighted murmur rose up from the student body. Aries piled his plate with all his favorite Hogwarts dishes and proceeded stuffing himself silly.

"Hungry?" Sirius asked mildly, an amused twist to his lips.

"A bit," Aries admitted, smiling self-deprecatingly.

"So you two are both seventh years?" Peter asked. Harry's jaw clenched around his bite of chicken.

"Yep, are you guys seventh years too?" Charles answered for him.

"We are," said James. "My name's James Potter, I'm Head Boy, this is Lily Evans, she's Head Girl, as well as one of the most fabulous people you'll ever meet." Lily blinked in surprise, but James pretended not to notice. "You've already met Remus and Sirius, and the great lump on your left is Peter Pettigrew."

"Nice to meet you," Aries murmured, fixing his gaze on his plate alone.

Charles chatted amiable with the Marauders throughout the meal, even making eyes at Lily, then laughing uproariously when James elbowed him for it. Aries didn't speak at all, beyond a polite "Fine, thanks" when Remus asked him if he was alright. The werewolf didn't look like he believed him, but was prevented from asking further questions by Sirius hooting loudly at some joke Charles had made. Soon after, Aries excused himself and slipped, unnoticed, from the Great Hall. At times like this he fervently thanked his time with the Dursleys for giving him the ability to slip into the background.

He'd spent the last week practically locked in Gryffindor tower, and didn't particularly feel like running there now. Instead, he took the deserted corridors to the library. At the far corner was a darkened section he wasn't sure Madam Pince even knew about. Mostly it was wizarding novels, but, if you knew what to look for, there were also obscure books on the Dark Arts, especially Parseltongue. They were denoted with a green dot on the top of the spine that, if one looked close enough, turned out to be a coiled up snake.

Aries was glad the books were still there and quickly settled down in the corner with his favorite – a book where all the characters but one were snakes, and the human was a young Parselmouth. It reminded him rather of himself, as the villain was a basilisk. It wasn't written by a Parselmouth, so there were a few minor errors, but Aries was quite willing to overlook them and simply enjoy the story.

He was halfway through the fifth chapter when a shadow fell over the pages, obscuring the words. Aries looked up to see one Severus Snape glaring at him.

"What are you doing in Salazar's Corner, Gryffindor?" the Slytherin sneered.

"Reading," Aries deadpanned. When Snape simply continued to glare at him he sighed. "Honestly, does _everything_ with you people have to do with house rivalries?" he muttered, before responding, "My father was a Slytherin, I'll have you know, and he told me that this corner of the library has a few…interesting books in it. He was quite correct; I'm truly enjoying Forked Tongue of Silver."

Snape's eyebrows had shot up in shock when Aries mentioned his 'father's house and he sat down heavily in the closest armchair upon hearing the title of the book.

"That…is my favorite," he admitted.

"Really?" Aries asked, intrigued. He wouldn't have expected the younger version of Mr. Slimy-Greasy-Potions-Master-Git to like something as simple as a novel. Perhaps the fact that it was all about Parseltongue intrigued him. "I think it might be mine as well, though it's not entirely accurate."

"Indeed," Severus agreed eagerly. "I read The Art of the Serpent by Anne Konta, who actually _was_ a Parselmouth, and she says that snakes care nothing for the affairs of humans and very little for the affairs of other snakes; the notion of one snake trying to rule all others is perfectly ridiculous."

"True, but she also talks about how Basilisks are recognized by all snakes as perversions, perhaps the only intrinsically evil serpent," Aries added, becoming thoroughly engrossed in the conversation. "It is that mention that leads me to believe Barnum Adder, the author of Forked Tongue of Silver, actually read Konta's book and simply disregarded those facts which didn't fit, trusting his informed readers to suspend disbelief."

"Or perhaps trusting that the majority of his audience wouldn't be 'informed'," Severus added slyly, smirking lightly.

They continued to talk for three more hours, until Aries thought to glance at his watch and realized it was nearly curfew. Cursing he stood up.

"It's been really great talking with you, Severus," he admitted as he returned the book to its proper place. "See you in classes?"

"Indeed," Severus answered genially, tipping his head in farewell.

Aries walked up to Gryffindor tower with a bounce in his step. He was thoroughly shocked to find that he had honestly enjoyed his time talking with his future professor. He even felt like he could face his dorm mates without breaking down, now. Odd, really, considering he had broken down more in front of Professor Snape than anyone else, during his Occlumency lessons. He decided he would note it in his journal to look into later, as he felt far too tired to do any soul-searching at the moment. At least he knew better, now, than to simply push all his feelings away unexamined. That was the most valuable lesson he had garnered from Occlumency; unexamined feelings mean you can be caught unawares by your own reactions and betray yourself.

Shaking his head, Aries spoke the summer password to the Pink Lady, knowing the prefects wouldn't have a chance to change it at least until tomorrow. It swung open to an empty common room – probably the only night of the school year this would be so, as each group of dorm mates would be busy unpacking reacquainting themselves with their friends and beds. Up in the seventh year boys' dorm, he was met with an outpouring of worried greetings.

"Oi, Aries mate, where've you been?" Sirius slurred around a chocolate frog.

"Yeah, what did you go running off for?" James asked, sounding almost put out.

"I'm sorry if we offended you," Remus offered. Charles and Peter were both quiet.

"I was reading in the library," Aries answered quietly, "I didn't run off because you offended me, I'm sorry if that's what it looked like." He deliberately dodged the second question, having not come up with a better lie than having 'social issues', but unwilling to embarrass himself by claiming such.

"Told you guys not to worry," said Charles triumphantly. "I swear, only a week spent here and Aries already knows every nook and cranny of this place, while I still get lost on the way to the Great Hall."

Sirius and James shared a look that said 'Not every cranny I bet'. Aries smirked to himself with the knowledge that he knew even more than they did, if you included the Chamber of Secrets.

"What were you reading about?" Remus asked, a bookworm just like his future self.

"Nothing for school," Aries admitted casually, "just a couple novels in Salazar's Corner."

"Salazar's _what_?!" Sirius exclaimed, at the same time James said,

"Salazar _Slytherin_?!" and Remus said,

"Is that where all the Slytherins hang out?"

Aries blinked rapidly at this onslaught, though he quite expected it and had been going for shock value at the time.

"Salazar's Corner," he answered, trying to get them in order, "I would assume Salazar Slytherin, and I can only guess if those of Slytherin house hang out there. Why?"

He noticed Charles watching him intently, as though Aries were a potion that had started bubbling when he was supposed to be cooling and he, Charles, were trying to figure him out. Aries returned the gaze and winked, turning his head so only Charles could see.

Sirius sighed, a sound full of wearied exasperation.

"Look, I know you haven't been here among the students for more than a few hours," he said, in a tone that suggested he was trying to be patient while talking to a moron, "but here at Hogwarts Gryffindors don't go where Slytherins go and Slytherins don't go where Gryffindors go."

"Why not?" Aries asked obliviously, "I mean, my dad was a Slytherin, am I supposed to not go home? And some of the books there looked really interesting, it would be a shame not to read them just because I'm not in the right house."

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all gasped.

"Now you listen here," James said sternly, "Slytherin is in no means the 'right house'. They are evil, dark wizards the lot of them, worst of the worst. You've heard of Death Eaters, right?" Aries nodded. "Well every last Death Eater was a Slytherin. The dark lord himself was a Slytherin. I don't know what sort of 'interesting' books you thought you saw, but if they're there for the Slytherins, they must be dark magic."

Aries raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, choosing not to push it any further. There were so many ways he could shock them even more, though, and it was certainly tempting – telling them he'd been reading a book on Parseltongue, that he'd chatted about said book with Severus 'Snivellus' Snape – but he wasn't sure they could take any more without throwing him out. He didn't think they'd even registered what he'd mentioned about his 'dad' being in Slytherin.

As he got in his pajamas and started to slip into bed, he noticed writing on his sheets in a familiar, elegant scrawl.

_What are you on about?_

Figuring Charles was waiting for a reply, he pulled out his wand, and waved it toward the other boy's bed, making the words _Testing the waters_ appear in his own handwriting on Charles' sheets before pulling the covers up to his chin. Soon after, he was sound asleep.

The next day dawned both rainy and sunny. The clouds moving in from the West had barely arrived, leaving plenty of Eastern sky clear for the sun to shine through, but had decided to empty their apparently weighty load on Hogwarts prematurely. The effect was rather distracting, and Aries eventually had to turn his back to the window to get dressed before another half hour passed without his notice. None of the other boys were speaking to him, and it wasn't hard for him to discern why.

Sirius and James were still sore about last nights talk.

Peter was copying James.

Charles had been wrong-footed by Aries' display and so was taking the safe route by waiting to see what happened.

Remus…Aries looked around. Remus was already at breakfast.

Aries feigned ignorance of the attitudes around him and packed his back with three notebooks, two quills, and a bottle of black ink. His wand he slipped in a wrist holster he'd ordered from the Auror supply shop – it had cost 20 galleons and, though Charles had mocked him for what the redhead considered a rip-off, Harry knew from experience it was worth every knut.

The inside was made of softest thestrals skin, nearly indestructible despite it's flimsy appearance and near weightlessness, and on the back, covering the bony part of his forearm, was a guard made from a single dragon scale. The whole holster was charmed with a powerful protection spell that, since it was absorbed by the skins, was nearly undetectable. Other spells could be added, and it could even be steeped in certain types of potions to make it stronger, according to the wishes of the user. His old one, in the future, was already magicked to his preferences and felt like a second skin, but he had left it in his dormitory during his nighttime stroll to the Astronomy Tower, in order to fool Ron into thinking he was only at the loo if the other boy woke up and he wasn't there.

Unable to think of anything else he might need on the first day, Aries slung his bag over his shoulder and headed off to the Great Hall with a plastered smile on his face.

Despite it already being past 8:00, Aries was still one of the first to breakfast. Most of the students probably wouldn't be up and ready for breakfast until it was almost time for class, still used to sleeping in over the summer. Remus and Lily were two of only five Gryffindors already there, and Severus made up half the Slytherin table, the other half being a distracted-looking fourth year. Making a decision, Aries walked cheerfully up to the seat next to Remus, turned, and smiled at Severus, calling out, "Good morning!"

Severus got a distinct deer-in-headlights look for a moment, then glanced around him rather frantically before waving jerkily back. Aries smiled brighter and sat.

"And a good morning to you, Remus, and the dear Head Girl," he said, spearing a sausage link off the nearest platter with his fork.

"Umm, yeah, same to you," said Remus, looking at him like he'd grown two heads. Lily, who had her back to the Slytherin table and so had missed the whole seen, smiled and nodded politely, then returned to her book. Remus leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "Did you completely forget what James and Sirius told you last night? Or do you just have a death wish?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Aries assured him. "I just don't understand this silly 'all Slytherins are evil' mentality, and I refuse to adhere to what I don't understand. If no one can be bothered to explain it, I won't be bothered to obey it."

Lily, despite not being nosy or a busybody, was sitting right across from them and consequently heard the four loudest words either of them spoke, which, quite unfortunately, happened to be Aries' 'All Slytherins are evil' comment. She set down her book and leveled him with an icy stare.

"I don't believe it," she sneered, "one night with those four and you're already prejudiced and bigoted against a quarter of the school. 'All Slytherins are evil' indeed; how is that any different from saying 'all muggleborns are worthless'? I'm disappointed, I thought maybe you were different. I can see I was wrong."

And without sparing him another glance, she slung her bag over her shoulder and stormed out.

"I budda…I wudda…but…huh?" Aries stammered, completely confused by this very misdirected speech. "What's _her_ problem?" he finally forced out.

Remus smiled in amusement, but hid it and said nothing as the doors opened and the rest of the Marauders and Charles all walked in. They seated themselves next to or across from their friend, ignoring Aries for the most part. The silence was broken by Sirius.

"So, Slytherin-Lover, had a chance to think over what we said last night?" he asked casually, buttering a muffin.

Aries slammed his fork down, grabbed his bag and stalked off without responding; for fear that if he did it would end up as a shouting match. He nearly ran into Professor McGonagall as he stormed through the entryway, but they both stopped short just in time.

"Ah, Mr. Hesuchazo, prefect timing," she exclaimed, rifling through a pile of small papers. She handed him one with his name on it. "Your schedule. If you need any help finding your way, just ask a fellow Gryffindor."

"Right," Aries replied, masking his sarcasm well, "I'll be sure to do that."

She smiled obliviously at him and left, entering the Great Hall to disperse the rest of the schedules.

Aries looked at his curiously. It was a typical NEWT level schedule, with no more than two classes per day, but each class double.

Monday was Potions, lunch, Ancient Runes; Tuesday, Transfiguration, lunch, free period; Wednesday, a free period, lunch, Arithmancy; Thursday was all free; Friday, Charms, lunch, and finally Defense.

At least he already knew where the potions classroom was. Running back up to Gryffindor Tower to get his cauldron, he found another note on his sheets.

_Stop trying to make waves, you bloody git._

Aries smirked. Charles had no idea what he was doing.

_Not making waves_, he replied. _Getting thrown overboard._


	3. Classes, Maps, and Long Talks

**Disclaimer**: Jo's world, I just live there.

**Summary**: Voldemort has a plan to catch Harry out of bounds and cast a spell to send him back two hundred years, but all does not go as planned and Harry isn't as gone as he'd thought...

**Author's Notes:** I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my reviewers, especially Steve on FictionAlley, without whom I would have goofed big time. I'd like to mention you all, 'cause I'm very grateful to your input, but it's late and I'm lazy and there are a lot of you. So please, consider yourself mentioned in spirit if not in person. Luv y'all!

**Chapter 3: Classes, Maps, and Long Talks:**

All NEWT classes contained students from every house, and still the numbers were less than a score. NEWT potions had an impressive total of sixteen. Severus was the only Slytherins; Aries, Charles, Sirius, James, Lily and one of Lily's dorm mates were the Gryffindors; and the class was rounded out with three Hufflepuffs and six Ravenclaws. By the time Aries arrived the only seat left was next to Snape, which could just as easily have been purposeful as an accident. The question of which was answered as he sat down and heard Sirius mutter to Charles.

"Now he'll see how bad Slytherins are. If anyone can show him that, Snivellus can."

Aries made a face at him behind his back.

"I trust you had an…interesting night explaining why you were so late?" Severus asked with clear amusement.

"Oh shut up," Aries grumbled playfully. "You could have warned me not to tell them anything, you know. I had to endure a lecture on why Slytherins were all evil and Gryffindors Did Not Associate with them. And I hadn't even gotten to the part where you showed up!"

"I'm not surprised," Severus quipped, "if you had mentioned me with anything less than disdain either you or those despicable Marauders would be in the hospital wing. Gryffindors have been against Salazar's Corner ever since Dumbledore brought it back, saying it's full of evil and will corrupt any student who reads there." The last phrase was said in a high-pitched voice, meant to imitate Professor McGonagall, that was simply ridiculous. Aries covered his laughter with a cough when Sirius turned to glare at him.

There might have been a row, but the door sung open then and Professor Velveson stepped in, walking briskly to the font of the classroom.

"Welcome NEWT students," she began. "This year will be far more difficult than any other, except perhaps your OWL year." She went on in this vein for a little over fifteen minutes, until Aries' weren't the only eyes drooping – and he _knew_ he could pass this class, he _had_ passed it last year. Charles was just sneering at her with utter disdain.

The potion they were supposed to brew that day was ridiculously easy as well – probably a quickie meant to leave enough time for her 'We will work you to the bone!' schpiel. Snape had had no such verbose inclinations and had assigned much harder work. Aries could understand that, as he watched Severus roll his eyes and barely restrain himself from grumbling unsavory words. The insults were almost palpable in the boy's sneer, and Aries could hear them echoing from the future: _Insufferable chattering wench! Do not waste our time prattling, if you please._

The former he had once heard muttered behind Rita Skeeter's back, the second had been directed at Hermione as he called on her for a question, requesting she keep her answer concise. He laughed lightly at the memories.

"What, may I ask, do you find so amusing?" Severus snapped without any real rancor.

"I can practically hear you grumbling from here," Aries answered with amusement. "Tell me, is it the ease of the potion, the length of the speech, or do you just not like her?"

Sev' snorted softly. "Perceptive, aren't you?" Aries just smiled and shrugged as he left to get the ingredients.

The potion – Caveo Veles – was simple even by Aries' standards. It was a polish to use on light weaponry to make it nearly indestructible and much sharper, but more than three weapons doused in it couldn't be kept close together or they would cancel each other out and become completely ineffective, hence the name. Caveo Veles, beware the light armed troops. Aries remembered brewing it the summer after fifth year when Auror Shacklebolt had been giving him lessons on armed combat, fencing, archery and the like. The auror hadn't known what had hit him when he'd found his sword two feet shorter after what had clearly been a light swing on Harry's part.

The ingredients were amber resin, a griffin talon, dragon's blood, iron shavings, dried gladiolus petals, iris roots, and two drops of hydrochloric acid. Not the average witch's brew and difficult to come up with in a pinch, but useful to have around when you have the luxury of planning ahead. Which Aries did, he planned on bottling a vial for himself after the lesson was over, and had a two empty ones stored on either side of his wand in the wrist holster for this exact purpose. He noticed with amusement that Severus also appeared to have an empty vial in his pocket.

They finished their potion to perfection a full quarter of an hour before anyone else, and managed it with no mistakes or talking.

"Nice working with you, Hesuchazo," Severus said appreciably as they savored the sight of the thickening blue-grey polish. "You're quite good at potions."

"Not really," said Aries, smiling self-deprecatingly. "I always had a lot of trouble with it. "I think you were doing most of the work."

"Well then," said a frosty voice from right behind them. "Perhaps he should get most of the credit, Mr. Hesuchazo?"

Aries whipped around to find Professor Velveson glaring at him. He blinked, wondering just what he had done to set her off, and decided it was just his lot in life to be randomly hated by potions professors.

"Aries did his fair share, ma'am," Severus responded quickly. The woman looked him over appraisingly, shot Aries one last stern look, and stalked off.

The Gryffindor, meanwhile, was trying valiantly to get his mind to stop swirling. Professor Snape, albeit a younger version and one without any knowledge of the Boy Who Lived, had jumped to his defense? Against a potions teacher?

"Thanks mate," he replied shakily. "Man, what's _her_ problem?"

"She's a very traditional witch," Severus answered. "Believes in the separation of the houses and whatnot. It upsets her when things that Don't Normally Happen, start happening."

"Like a Gryffindor and Slytherin working together," Aries supplied. Severus nodded. "In any case, we'd best bottle some of this to get to her before we…get rid of the rest." He resisted winking at the Slytherin, but just barely.

While Severus narrowed his eyes at him, Aries deftly scooped one cup of the potion into their assigned beaker, wrote their name and the date on it, and stepped back.

"After you," he said with a grin and a half-bow.

"Very funny; really _witty_," Severus drawled with a half-smile as he surreptitiously filled his own vial. Aries did the same right after.

Lifting the pestle he had used to crush the iris roots like a wine glass, he said, "To never letting a good potion go to waste?"

Severus responded in kind with the wooden stirring spoon and they clinked together. "To efficiency and resourcefulness. Proud, Slytherin traits. Are you sure you're a Gryffindor?"

"You never know," Aries replied with a laugh. "I may be half and half. A Gryfferin."

Severus cringed. "What a horrible word. Have you no taste for flow? You, my eloquence-challenged friend, are a Slythindor."

"Changing houses on us already, Hesuchazo?" someone hissed quietly to the side. Both turned to see Sirius Black holding his empty cauldron with a grip that looked tight enough to break the thing in half.

"And if I were?" Aries asked coolly. "What then? What would you do about it? I'm not," he added languidly, "but what if I were?"

Sirius glared at him, but said nothing, and Aries returned the boy's gaze easily with a hard stare of his own. Sirius looked away first.

Soon enough the class ended and Aries pulled out his schedule. Ancient Runes would come after lunch. That was in room 8 on the fifth floor, so he would need to use the passage at the West end of the second floor, right off the stairways, the one behind the Gothic door with reliefs of Linwood the Lucky's many mishaps. Of course, that was always assuming the stairs were cooperating, otherwise –

Aries thoughts were cut off as he was rudely shoved from behind, his bag snatched off his shoulder and its contents thrown to the floor. He looked up, startled into James Potter's laughing face. Harry watched, frozen, as James pulled his wand and shot a spell at him, turning his robes green with silver polka-dots. As he stared at his father's retreating back, Harry was suddenly faced with all the drawbacks of his plan; a rather uncomfortable feeling at the best of times.

Charles came along moments later, just as he finished repacking his bag, and dragged him by his cloak into a nearby empty hallway.

"That's it, I'm sick of this," he hissed. "Tell me what you're up to, now Potter."

"Aries," Harry corrected automatically. "And it's a long story and I'm hungry. Can we go to lunch first?" Charles glared at him. "Alright, fine. I'll explain everything tonight. It's a full moon, so our roommates won't be there. Deal?"

"Fine, but if you forget or decide to weasel out, I'll come after you, you know I will," Charles promised. Aries rolled his eyes.

"Very friendly of you, Higgins. Now I'm heading to the Great Hall, if you don't mind. I'm starving."

The meal was a tense affair as Charles started to sit across from Aries, as was his custom, but James and Sirius pulled him away and over to where they were sitting. A good ways away from Aries. The isolated seventh year ate in silence, going over everything he'd learned that summer about Ancient Runes and hoping he wouldn't make a fool of himself. He barely noticed the strange looks and strangled laughs (and not so strangled in the case of the marauders and a few Slytherins) he was getting for his 'improved' robes.

Luckily, on his way out, he happened to glance down and, red rising in his cheeks, quickly changed his robe back to black.

Ancient Runes was worse than he had feared. One week of frantic studying had barely made a dent in the vast amount of knowledge he was expected to know. Professor Jera went through the same doomsday speech as Professor Velveson, though he was a little more supportive about it, and then started on the lesson. Aries took frantic notes, copying down every word the man said so he could decipher it later, when he actually understood more than half the words he was writing.

It was horribly frustrating. He knew he would need help to even begin catching up, but his only friend (though it made him cringe to admit it) was Severus, who didn't take Ancient Runes. As a matter of fact, the only people in the class he did know were Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. Pettigrew he wouldn't ask for help if his life depended on it; well, perhaps then, but not before, and his life _certainly_ didn't depend on Ancient Runes. Remus...he had his reasons for not asking Remus.

So instead, he struggled through the first class as best he could and tried not to look forward to seeing Charles too much.

Had he not been so tired, Aries might have avoided the Great Hall altogether and instead eaten in the kitchens, but as he concentrated on rubbing the soreness out of his writing arm, his legs walked him straight up to his usual spot at the Gryffindor table. The moment he sat down, he realized that everyone was staring at him. Well, he amended mentally, not everyone, just a good number of Gryffindors, but it was still highly uncomfortable. He forced down barely half his plate of food before heading for the Gryffindor dorms.

This was going to wear him down fast, he could feel it. Being trapped in such a familiar place with no one to talk to, half-familiar faces with unfamiliar attitudes, and the one all-too familiar attitude. He took out his journal and wrote down everything that had happened during the day; the book was probably all that was keeping him sane. He hadn't really thought about it during the last week, when Charles was being almost nice and there weren't crowds of noisy, ignorant, and oft times cruel children suffocating him, but he missed Ron and Hermione. True, he hadn't talked to them about his feelings and the things that were bothering him in his own time, but they had been there, offering silent support, which was a good deal more than he had now.

He found himself yet again looking forward to the meeting with Charles. Since the students had arrived, the other boy had been mostly avoiding him, but on the rare occasion they did have to exchange words, he was acting more like the Malfoy he had been in the future than the Charles Higgins Aries had actually grown to think of as a friend.

Thoughts of the meeting turned to thoughts of the full moon and his father and friends' nighttime revelry. They would probably sneak out under the invisibility cloak, using the Marauder's Map to keep from getting caught.

Harry cursed loudly.

The Map! With a single glance it could completely give him and Charles away as imposters. Checking his watch he found, to his relief, that dinner wouldn't end for another fifteen minutes, and he had heard Remus asking the others to help him with some research in the library afterwards, so he had some time. First he had to find it. He searched first in his father's trunk, but it wasn't there, and he wasted a good ten minutes just staring at his things. Next came Sirius', but it wasn't there either. Finally, after almost twenty minutes of searching, he found the folded up parchment in Remus' trunk. Thinking fast, he wrote a note to the werewolf about having to borrow some parchment and took the map. Activating it, he searched for Filch and found the old caretaker by the broom sheds at the Quidditch pitch.

Aries wiped the map and ran, arriving at the sheds not five minutes later. Holding the parchment in one hand and his wand in the other, he put on his shiftiest look and made as if to unlock the doors.

"What do you think you're doing, eh?" Filch snarled, coming around from the other side.

Aries jumped and glanced around nervously. "No-nothing," he stammered. "I was just looking."

"And what's that, then?" Filch pointed at the map and Aries made as if to hide it.

"J-just a spare bit of parchment."

Filch obviously didn't believe him and promptly confiscated the map and sent Aries off with a warning. The plan had gone absolutely perfect. He was careful to sulk until he was out of sight, then ran back to the dorms. With any luck, the Marauders would have to contain their anger so it didn't seem suspicious that they were overreacting about one sheet of parchment.

That night, he pretended to be asleep while three of the four closely knit friends walked in.

"We need the cloak, I'll grab that," he heard James whisper. "Padfoot, you get the map, kay?"

"Where is it?" Sirius asked. "Who had it last?"

"I think Moony did, check in his trunk," James answered, shuffling around his own.

More shuffling sounds came from over by Remus' bed, then a muffled curse and the soft glow of wand light. Louder, more vigorous curses.

"That little prat!" Sirius hissed. "He took our map!"

"What?!" James and Peter exclaimed in unison.

"That Hesuchazo kid, he 'borrowed' some parchment from Moony and took our map!"

More cursing, more rustling, someone peeked in his curtains.

"He's still asleep, what do we do?" Aries turned the snarl at hearing Peter's voice into a snore for emphasis.

"We can't just wake him up and demand a random bit of parchment," James sighed exasperatedly. "That'd seem a might fishy, don't you think? We'll just have to do as we did before the map. At least we still have the cloak, eh?" Disgruntled muttering, probably from Sirius. "Look, we'll get Moony to ask him about it later. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Don't say that, Prongs," Peter said tremulously, "You'll jinx it!"

Muffled laughter, then the door shut and they were gone.

Not ten seconds later, Aries' curtains were ripped open and he was subjected to wand light at full glow.

"You'd better explain and you'd better explain now," Charles demanded. Aries sighed and stretched, using one hand to shield his eyes.

"Explain which bit?" he asked, then shook his head. "How about we play twenty questions, eh? You ask, I'll tell, so long as you swear on your life not to use it against anyone. Alright?"

Charles eyed him appraisingly. "Fair enough," he said finally. "Just twenty?"

"Well, not really," Aries said, rolling his eyes. "Twenty questions is the name of a muggle game. What I meant is, I'm not going to try to guess just what you want to know, so you'll just ask. Now go."

Charles smirked. "Thought we already had," he muttered under his breath. "First things first, what map?"

"The Marauders Map," Aries answered. "Those four made it – I don't know when – but it shows the whole of Hogwarts, including most of the secret passages, with a little dot and nametag for everyone in it. If they'd looked on it tonight, they'd see our real names, so I stole it and let Filch confiscate it."

"Very Slytherin of you," Charles said, smirking approvingly. "So now, where are they going and what are they going to be doing there?"

Aries blew air out through his teeth. "They're going to the Shrieking Shack, where they're going to meet up with Remus Lupin to go play in the Forbidden Forest as animagi. Yes, they're _all_ animagi, and have been since they were fifteen."

Charles narrowed his eyes. "Are _you_ an animagus?"

"No," Aries answered shortly. His bed dipped as Charles sat on it.

"You're lying."

"No I'm not."

"Then you're telling a half truth!" Charles slammed a fist on the mattress, creating a rather unsatisfying WHUMPH. "Can you change into an animal at will."

Aries sighed. He _had_ said he'd answer, and Charles _had_ agreed not to use it against him. Hadn't he? The Gryffindor quickly reviewed the start of the conversation.

"Give me your word first," he said aloud, turning over to face the other boy.

"What? What about?" Charles asked, sounding shifty.

"Give me your word that you won't use what I have told you or what I will tell you against me, the marauders, or anyone else, and I'll answer your question," Aries said. "You made it sound like you'd promised, but you never said it. I need your word."

"Fine, fine," Charles made a disgusted noise. "Trust _you _to finally have the brains to catch that just when I get the chance to use it on you. You have my word that I will not use any information you give me in the course of this conversation to the detriment of anyone else. I reserve the right to use it for my own benefit."

Aries dipped his head in agreement and lay back down. "Do you know the incantation for the spell to become an animagus?"

"Primus Animagi, why?"

"The Primus Animagi spell allows someone to take the form of a creature that matches both their power and their personality. However, for some, this spell is too difficult or the creature is too huge or exotic for practical use. So, a second spell was created. Minimus Animagi. It allows the caster to turn him or herself into a creature of their choice, non-magical and of domestic variety. This is why McGonagall, though powerful, has a cat as her form. I imagine her real form, if she has ever even bothered to manage it, is something far less suitable to teaching demonstrations and nighttime patrols."

"So I take it you used this spell?" Charles asked. Aries nodded. "Well, what are you then, and what would your prime animagus form be?"

"I'm a little black cat," Aries answered, then took another deep breath. "And it's a Gryffera, a one-time-only cross between a chimera and a griffin." There was silence from Charles' end as the redhead absorbed this information. "Mind you, I haven't managed it yet, but –"

"Would you teach me the Minimus Animagi spell?" Charles asked, cutting off the last half of Aries' sentence.

"Er…yeah, if you'd like. You realize it is illegal, don't you?"

Charles waved his hand dismissively. "Like they can arrest someone who doesn't exist. In any case, we'll get to that later. Now, what I came here for in the first place. Why are you antagonizing every Gryffindor in sight and trying to make nice with Snape? I know you hate him."

Aries took a moment to make himself comfortable before answering. He'd been trying to gather his thoughts for this since dinner. "I can't handle it," he began. "I can't handle being here, and having my parents here, and not being able to be close to them. If I were even on semi-good terms with them, I don't think I could help blurting out something to change the past. Future. But at the same time, I don't want to be the one to push them away. It's complicated, and my reasoning was sort of spur of the moment, but basically, if I can get them to not like me enough that they actively avoid civil conversation, then I'm safe. You see?"

Charles nodded. "And what about Snape?"

The brunette sighed. This was where it got really muddled. "I don't hate him, per se, you know. I might have once, a long time ago, but I stopped hating him when I found out he saved my life, and haven't been able to start again. Especially once I realized that the reason he hated me was because of my father, and his hatred for James came with good cause."

"Still, you've never seemed particularly keen on chatting with him before," Charles sneered. "Why did you seem so amiable in potions?"

"Last night, when I was reading in Salazar's Corner, Severus found me," Aries admitted. "He was a bit stand-offish at first, but then we got to talking, and he was really interesting. It was about then that I came up with my plan for getting my parents to avoid me – what better way than be friends with Severus Snape? It seems to be working, too."

"So you're just using him?" Charles snapped. "That's a rather underhanded thing to do to a person, for a Gryffindor."

Aries stopped short. Using him? That was a bit harsh, and not even Snape deserved to be used through false friendship. He shook his head.

"It's not like that, not entirely," he said quietly. "I do…enjoy his company. He's quite intelligent, and funny in his own sarcastic way. I can appreciate his wit much more now that it's not directed toward me. Besides, he holds the unique position of being an adult I know who's still alive in our time and who still is worthy of respect."

"What about Lupin?"

"He's, well, he's pretty much the same, I guess." Aries shrugged. "Just too close to the marauders."

Charles nodded and thought for a moment. "So you'd call yourself Snape's friend? Honestly and truly?"

_He must really respect Sev, to want to protect him_, Aries thought tiredly, yawning despite himself.

"Yes. Yes I would."


	4. Classes and Learning, Seperately

**Disclaimer:** Jo's world, I just live there.

**Summary: **Voldemort has a plan to catch Harry out of bounds and cast a spell to send him back two hundred years, but all does not go as planned and Harry isn't as gone as he'd thought...

**Chapter 4: Classes and Learning, Though Not at the Same Time**

The next few weeks were stressful for Aries, but mostly in the normal school way. He was still having vast amounts of trouble in Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy wasn't much better. Charles took Arithmancy, though, and had condescended to tutor Aries when the other boy asked. Professor Vector – now fresh out of uni – had offered her assistance as well, but the sidelong, measuring glances she shot at him freaked him out quite thoroughly enough to reject. Professors McGonagall and Flitwik didn't seem to have changed in the slightest, which was comforting, and he was doing quite well in their classes. However, last period on Fridays were a problem.

The defense professor hated him.

Aries had been up most of the night before the first defense class because of bad dreams – not Voldemort induced, thankfully, but horrific nightmares nonetheless – and had already had to endure a mind numbing charms lesson. After the prerequisite NEWT scare speech, Flitwik had introduced the topic – Apparition Theory.

Despite the fact that almost all 7th years had their license, Apparition had only recently been added to the NEWT curriculum and so was considered material for that year. Aries, beyond having studied it during his 6th year, had found the subject fascinating and wrote his term thesis on instantaneous magical transportation, specifically the seven types of portkey, floo, apparition and disapparition. He forced himself to pay attention anyway, if only to earn a few points for correct answers.

Q: "What is unique about Apparition that differs from other instantaneous forms of transportation, like the portkey?"

A: "Unlike Extra-Dimensional Time/Space accessed during Portkey and, to a lesser extent, floo travel, apparition creates a temporary tunnel in Real-Space combining it with a spell allowing the witch or wizard to pass through the intermediary matter."

Twenty points to Gryffindor, in the bag.

Q: "What are the pros and cons of this form of travel?"

A: "Because it lacks the transition time through EDTS, apparition is truly instantaneous, both to the witch or wizard apparating and to any observers. However, the complex nature of the passage through matter allows for dangers such as splinching and misdirection."

Another twenty points, and a few impressed and/or jealous looks from the Ravenclaws.

As it was only the introduction to theory class, Professor Flitwik didn't introduce a single fact that Aries didn't already know, and actually taught a few incorrect theories that had yet to be disproved. He had to bite his lip to keep from correcting him and was entirely exhausted by the time defense rolled around. As a consequence, as soon as Professor Perkins started with, "As you know, this is your NEWT year, so we will be working harder this year then ever before," Aries put his forehead on his palm, his elbow on the desk, and fell asleep.

About half an hour later, he was snapped awake by a sharp rap on the back of his head. He looked up to see Perkins holding his wand in a white-knuckle grip and glaring.

"Since this class seems to _bore_ you so much, Mr. Hesuchazo, perhaps you would like to demonstrate a proper barrier ward, hmm?" the professor suggested, looking as if he would gladly test the ward with an unforgivable or two.

"If you insist, professor," Aries said, sounding wary. And for good reason, the last time he had done a barrier ward he had ended up the only thing left standing in a twenty-foot radius. Remus had called that 'good enough to be going on with' and moved on. "Should I Specify it?"

"Just Solid for now, thank you," Perkins sneered. He obviously doubted Aries even knew _how_ to specify a ward.

The sleepy brunette nodded and walked to the front of the class, deciding as he went that he would try to visualize the wand as a spigot, letting only a thin amount of his magic out. He started the spell in front of him, like he'd been taught, and extended it in a sphere until he was firmly encased in a magical bubble. This globe had a radius of three feet, but kept inching outward. In order to stop it, Aries tied the magic of his ward to that of the castle's stone floor and cut it off, leaving himself in a 7-foot diameter safety-zone. Any with proper magic sense could tell it was there, of course, but most 7th years hadn't developed that yet, and might never do so, and the ward-threads that made up the bubble were invisible to the naked eye.

"Mr. Hesuchazo has already demonstrated improper technique," Perkins drawled from in front of his desk. "In forming a ward around one's person, it is always best to start from the top, so that your magic may flow _downward_."

Oh yeah. Aries had forgotten that, in the 70's, wizards were still under the assumption that magic was affected by gravity.

"Now, the only way to properly test a barrier ward is to attempt to destroy it, so you may all take turns throwing these cushions at your fellow-student. Do _try_ not to harm him."

Aries sighed as the decorative pillows started flying, an alarming number directed at his head. This was getting dull, and he was annoyed at Professor Perkins, so he sat himself cross-legged on the floor, propped his head on his arm again, and went back to sleep.

Perkins' eyes bulged as he watched the display. How _dare_ a child act with such impertinence toward a professor! He motioned for the students – now mostly just the Marauders – to cease their target-practice and sent a mild shock spell at the sleeping student. It stopped a good two feet away and fizzled into nothing. For the next half-hour, the class was entertained by the sight of their enraged professor sending progressively more dangerous hexes at the bubble.

The student inside was already awake. At the first disturbance of spell-on-spell, Aries' magic had wobbled, reaching to him again as if for reassurance. He had tied the ward-threads back to his person to keep track of the attack, but maintained the illusion of sleep until Perkins seemed on the verge of using illegal hexes. He mimed stretching from a nap and cut the magic off altogether just as a mild pain spell was sent flying. Because he had started the ward in front of him, however, that spot was the last to unravel; Aries was already stepping off the dais when the orange-purple jinx sparked against the last vestiges of the barrier.

"Hesuchazo!" Perkins barked as the bell signaled class' end. "Ten points from Gryffindor and detention with Filch all next week for falling asleep in class!"

"Yes Professor Perkins," Aries said, stifling a yawn as he left the room.

He had to wonder if this would make it the seventh year in a row where the defense professor attempted to kill, maim, or otherwise harm him in some way, shape or form. The Moony thing only counted for consistency's sake.

In any case, after five weeks and five classes, Professor Perkins hadn't gotten any more amiable. Though Aries was no longer falling asleep in class, he was often called to the front to demonstrate the effect of some curse or other. While he allowed himself to be used as an example, Aries never left the hex on for more than a couple of seconds, as he knew almost all counter-curses wandless and speechless – thus defeating the professor's attempt at a longer demonstration by cursing him mute first.

All in all, it made him want to start up the DA again, just so he could learn something new in practice. He was duly shocked, therefore, when Charles suggested that very same thing.

"Start up a defense club?" Aries gawked when the subject came up.

"Not a club," Charles sighed, sounding very put-upon, "just private study. You, me…Sev, if he's agreeable. Just so we can actually _learn_ new stuff."

Aries shrugged, finishing the last sentence of his transfiguration essay. It was almost verbatim to one he had written during second term of sixth year.

"Oh come on, you know you want to," Charles continued, sounding like a ten year old. "We can even use the same room you used before, if you like it so much."

With a sigh, Aries dried the ink on his parchment and rolled it up, then looked through his fringe at Charles, who was doing a passable imitation of a puppy.

"All right, I'll do it," he consented with a laugh. "And I'll ask Sev along, too. How about we meet on the seventh floor corridor Saturday after lunch?"

Charles stared at him like he'd grown another head that was reciting obscure French poetry.

"What?" he asked finally, when the staring became too much.

Charles blinked before answering. "Quidditch tryouts for Gryffindor are Saturday," he said softly. "I just…assumed you would be going out for seeker or something."

"Oh," Aries replied dumbly. He hadn't really taken Quidditch into consideration, since Dumbledore had never gotten his lifetime ban removed; Harry wouldn't have had time with it along with all his training anyway. But here, Aries didn't have to train, and there was no ban. There were, in fact, no reasons for him not to try out, or even to go pro with it. He sat his chin on one hand to think, not noticing as Charles silently got up and left.

Charles sighed as he walked up to the dormitory. He had only meant to ask for some help with private study, not break Aries' brain. But from the way the other boy had been frowning at the tabletop, it would be a little while before he got another answer. So he got out the library book on advanced hexes – one he was not strictly supposed to have, but it wasn't like he was doing anything wrong, like _using_ the hexes – and lay down on his bed to wait.

As interesting as the book was, Charles couldn't help but get bored and lose interest after an hour. It was a Hogsmead weekend, but he and Aries had stayed behind, so they were practically alone in the castle, except for the first and second years, who didn't really count. Charles got up and went to the window, deciding to marvel at the view again. Living down in the dungeons for six years, he hadn't really gotten a chance to view the whole grounds from anywhere but the Quidditch pitch and the Astronomy tower, but the view from Gryffindor was spectacular, looking over the forest and probably the stillest part of the lake.

Everything was different in Gryffindor, really. The view, the decorations – the red and gold were surprisingly muted, giving a feeling of warmth rather than the overwhelming loudness he had assumed – even the people. Especially the people. When you walked into Gryffindor with a frown, people noticed and asked what was wrong, and when you smiled, they smiled back, and when you wanted to just forget about the world and play exploding snap like a first year, there was always someone there to play against. Of course, it wasn't all good. When a Gryffindor was taunted, they immediately got up in arms and looked down on anyone who wasn't. And, as evidenced by the Marauders, when someone in Gryffindor didn't go along with the majority, they were ostracized rather than either taught better or learned from. No wonder Gryffindor and Slytherin didn't get along, they were practically opposites.

Which, yet again, brought him to Aries. How on Earth was it that one person could seem the quintessential Gryffindor, yet, inside, have cunning and strategy worthy of any Slytherin? And, though he hated to admit it, Aries was just as adaptable and resourceful as he, Charles, was. Just look at how quickly they had both gained the exact status they wanted. Charles had immediately befriended his new dorm mates, knowing he would need contacts if he was going to live a good life here. Aries had immediately used the prejudices of those he knew to get them to leave him alone.

But at the same time, when a young Avery ruined Aries' potion by throwing in a single extra kelpie scale, Aries had exploded right with his cauldron and hexed the boy, practically swelling with righteous fury – something only really found in Gryffindors (Hufflepuffs were righteous, and Slytherins and Ravenclaws could do fury, but not both at once). He had gotten a detention for it, while Avery got off without even a lecture, and while it could be that Professor Velveson thought the tentacle hex – which Aries had later revealed to be a combination _Furunculous_ and jelly-legs – was punishment enough, anyone could see she didn't like Aries. Charles thought it was hilarious that, while making friends with his first hateful potions professor, the boy wonder had somehow managed to get his second to hate him as well.

He shook his head, laughing silently. That sort of luck was typical Potter, and even in a different time and under a different name, he couldn't escape it.

A hand fell on his shoulder, making Charles jump; he turned around to see Aries watching him, amused. The look quickly merged into a sad, regretful smile.

"I won't be going out for Quidditch," he said simply, "the date and time stand, okay?"

Charles nodded and watched, curious, as Aries walked back out.

Saturday found Charles standing anxiously in the darkened seventh floor corridor with a glaring Severus Snape. Aries was nowhere in sight. The silence was stifling. He shifted his weight discreetly from one foot to the other.

He opened his mouth to speak, but the motion caught Snape's eye and the brooding teen glared at him, daring him to say anything so that he could shoot him down and show him just how foolish he was. Funny; Charles hadn't thought Snape would have learned to do that until he started teaching. He closed his mouth and looked away, barely preventing an eye roll that surely would have proved disastrous.

Finally, the sound of running footsteps heralded Aries' arrival. The brunette stopped short, just at the edge of the shadows where Charles and Severus were waiting, and glanced between them. To the bemusement of both, he poked the air in front of him, then drew a small knife out of his sleeve and made a couple of short slicing motions. Small, round, brownish _things_ fell into Aries' waiting hands and he held one out to each of his companions, who stared at the things in bewilderment.

"Congratulations," Aries said with an amused sneer. "Here are your souvenirs from the time you made the tension actually thick enough to cut with a knife."

Severus held his up to the light and examined it, then, without any warning, threw it at Aries, hitting him on the face. Charles followed suit and they all laughed, making the 'tension' slices dissolve into nothing.

"That's better. Now, lets get started."

He paced three times in front of the wall and a door appeared, which led them into a vast, arena-like room. One third was lined with books and had a mat on the floor, one third was full of weigh sets and weapons, and in the center was a dueling arena. The ceiling looked to be about thirty feet above.

"I never knew Hogwarts had a room like this," Severus commented, eyeing the room appreciatively then raising a suspicious look at Aries, who shrugged.

"My dad told me about a Room of Requirement where you pace by the wall three times and concentrate on what you need, and Hogwarts will supply," he lied smoothly. "I got one of the house elves to show me where it is."

Severus nodded thoughtfully, finding the explanation acceptable. Charles wondered how often Aries had to lie to cover things up around his friend.

"First things first," said Aries, shooting a locking charm at the door, "do either of you have any objection to studying spells that aren't…strictly legal?"

Charles shook his head, already knowing where the other youth was going with this, but Severus shrugged ambiguously, a shrewd look on his face. Aries smirked at the Slytherin, taking the shrug to mean 'I have no objection unless you mean to get me into trouble for it'.

"All right, in that case I propose we start out with the Minimus Animagi spell; Charles has already expressed an interest in it. Have you ever heard of it, Sev?"

He shook his head, and Aries quickly explained, then transformed as an example. Charles realized that Aries hadn't been lying when he'd said he was a _small_ black cat. He was probably two thirds the size of a normal cat, and no more than half the size of that orange beast Granger carried around. There was a small mark above his right eyebrow that looked like it could be a lighting shaped scar, but the fur around it covered it fairly well. Aries-the-cat paraded in front of them, head and tail held arrogantly high. With just a bit of a running start, he leapt lightly up to Charles' shoulder, then jumped across a good eight feet to land on Sev's. With a triumphant meow, he dove to the floor and changed back to his human self.

"So you see, the Minimus transformation is just as real and stable as the Primus, it's just a smaller animal that you choose. What do you say, you want to learn it?"

Severus nodded firmly, eyes wide and eager, and Aries led them to the library section where he pulled out two copies of Little and Loving it by Mimi Plush, the only book solely on the Minimus Animagi spell, that just _happened_ to be on the first shelf.

"I think I love this room," Charles muttered as he accepted his copy and sat in one of the chintz armchairs that also just _happened_ to be there, though he was sure they hadn't been before.

Charles and Severus spent the entire afternoon reading, barely looking up from the interesting book (Mimi Plush was surprisingly clever with a wicked sense of humor that belied her flowery name) even when they heard loud crashing or curses from the exercise part of the room, where Aries seemed to be doing his best to make himself horribly sore in the morning.

After getting the others set up with the books, he had immediately gravitated to the weight sets. After some stretches, he started at the bench and, setting himself up with 60 kilos – the amount he had been able to lift when he had last tried – found that several weeks without lifting had weakened him so that he couldn't even complete a 10-set of presses before he had to use magic to get the weighted bar off his chest (the curses). From there he had moved to the dumbbells – 15-kilos for each hand – and managed two 10-sets before his hands wouldn't clench and the metal weights fell to the floor (the crashing). Finally, he did laps around the room until the clock on the wall told them it was time for dinner.

Charles and Sev stretched and put the books back. Aries collapsed, gasping and covered in sweat. Sev walked over to his fallen friend and looked him over.

"Aries," he said scornfully, "you smell. You should take a bath before dinner."

Aries nodded from his place on the floor. "What's…the password…again?" he gasped out, chest heaving from his exertions.

"Heffalump," Sev told him. Charles assumed it was the password to the prefect's bathroom, as Sev was a prefect, and he was proven correct when the Slytherin continued. "We just shouldn't let the Hufflepuffs have a turn naming it, it always ends up like this."

Aries and Charles both laughed and Aries picked himself up off the floor, retrieving his robe and cloak from the hooks on the wall. He'd taken them off to start exercising, leaving him in a white muggle tee and pants.

"Aren't you going to put some real clothes on?" Charles asked as Aries made as if to walk out the door like that.

"I'm just going down two floors," Aries said, still panting slightly. "And I'm boiling hot as is, I'd boil alive inside a robe. You guys go on to dinner without me, I should be down soon enough."

The others nodded and walked off, leaving Aries free to take a shortcut through the portrait of Barnabus the Barmy, right across from the Room of Requirement, that led to the shadow behind the statue of Boris the Bewildered, next to the Prefect's Bathroom.

As he had done earlier, he locked the door so no one – like James or Remus or (heaven forbid!) Lily – would come in and catch him. He dropped his robe and cloak on a marble bench that sat off to the side, piled high with towels, and added his other close as well. He filled the tub with ice-blue water that he knew to be cool and full of mild muscle relaxants, as well as leaving one smelling faintly of vanilla.

He thought he heard a giggle as he lowered himself in, closing his eyes at the relaxing chill.

"Myrtle if you so much as glance at me before I'm done and clothed again I will tell Peeves all about your little peep shows," he threatened lazily. The giggle turned into a gasp and then there was blessed silence. He grinned as he let himself float, full of peace, mischief, and – a new one – hope.

Harry had figured out how he could have a chance at defeating Voldemort.

He'd better get used to these soaks.

**A/N:** Okay, so, time to thank and respond to my reviewers, as is a writer's duty.

ashibabi – I think I'm confused. Quiz? And I hope to write as much more soon as possible.

Bellatrix-Vecours – Don't worry, I already had most of Aries' and Charles' lives planned out when I wrote the prologue, so I shouldn't have any trouble getting them there.

padfootismyking – no! not the duckies! Phew, I'm safe, I updated soon enough.

RC Tanoshi – goodness, I didn't intend to cause loud exclamations. Can't say's I'm sorry, though ;)

Lil Miss Potter – I hope you won't be disappointed!

Kilikapele – I'm glad you like it!

veronik – hehe, more loud exclamations, or at least the desire for them. I'm glad you like my Malfoy.

Cartoon-Protector – You flatter me. The Harry/Aries and Draco/Charles stuff I base on who they think they are at any given moment (Aries gets caught up in memories and is then Harry, see? Maybe not, it is confusing, but will die down as time passes)

Crazy-lil-nae-nae – Will do!

dairygirl – I'll get more for you to read, then :)

Kayrana – I'm glad you like it enough to review twice, makes me feel doubly appreciated!

Len87 – I'm glad I've written a story you can get into

Lady Phoenix Slytherin – will do, or at least try!

borne-shadow-childe – is that good or bad?

There, all done, I think. If I missed you, go ahead and flame me, 'kay? Luv y'all!


	5. The Amazing Bouncing ?

**Disclaimer:** Jo's world, I just live there.

**Summary: **Voldemort has a plan to catch Harry out of bounds and cast a spell to send him back two hundred years, but all does not go as planned and Harry isn't as gone as he'd thought...

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**Chapter 5 – Adventures of the Amazing Bouncing…**

Over the next two months, Aries, Charles, and Sev met every Saturday in the Room of Requirement while the Gryffindor Quidditch team was at practice. This was unanimously agreed to be the safest time as both Sirius and James were on the team, Peter never missed seeing James practice, Remus was usually there as well with his nose buried in a book, and Lily would study under a tree nearby and pretend she wasn't watching. Aries thought it was quite funny how, since James had stopped being the quite the arrogant git he was before – at least around anyone who wasn't Slytherin or Aries – Lily had seemed irresistibly drawn to him. They were now the talk of the school as the Most In Denial Couple.

They spent four weeks on the Minimus transformation – studying it and getting Aries to explain the theory behind it – before either Charles or Sev was ready for attempting it. The spell itself was a complex ten-line incantation in Egyptian, as it originated from ancient Egyptian priests needing to imitate the animal forms of their respective gods, and they had to spend another week memorizing it. Aries forced them to know it by heart, and tested them by slipping a colorful fireworks display in between studying and reciting. Once both could recite the words without any mistakes while distracted, Aries decided to let them try it.

Severus had picked an asp, which made Aries a little nervous as he would have to remember not to talk to Sev while he was in snake form, lest he should accidentally speak Parseltongue. The Slytherin went first, holding his wand above his head – as was the technique for any self-directed spells (Aries chuckled inwardly again at the thought of gravity influencing magic) – and reciting the ancient words. Slowly, his form began to shift and blur, seeming to melt into a long, black half-melted candle on the floor. Then the edges came back into focus and there was Sev – a four foot long black snake, his scales glistening as if wet.

_"Sweet Merlin it worked!"_ the snake hissed. Aries bit his lip to stifle a laugh. _"Look, Charles, Aries, I'm a snake! It worked!"_

With a side-long glance at Aries, Charles said, "Sev, you're talking like a snake, we can't understand you. Can you understand us?"

Sev-the-snake cocked his head curiously, then seemed to frown – if a snake could frown – and reversed the transformation with a small pop.

"That was odd," he said softly. "I know you were speaking English, I could hear the sounds, but I couldn't make any sense of them. But when I spoke, it sounded normal. I didn't think snakes could speak human tongues."

Aries shrugged. "You weren't speaking human, you were speaking Parseltongue, I bet. Remember, in Art of the Serpent, Konta mentions how, to a Parselmouth, Parseltongue sounds like their native tongue, with an undertone of hissing."

It was actually nothing like that at all, but Konta's explanation was as good as anything he could come up with without rambling.

Sev nodded, looking confused. "That still doesn't explain why I couldn't understand English."

"Maybe just like, as a human, you can't understand Parseltongue, even though you're now part snake," Charles ventured, "as a snake, you can't understand human, even though you are one."

That made as much sense as anything, so they put the matter to rest and Charles stepped up to try.

The redhead had chosen a Scottish terrier. He told Aries that a terrier was his first pet back at Malfoy Manor and he'd always been fond of the little dogs. After Charles finished the incantation, he began to blur and shrink, turning paler and paler until he was completely white. Finally, the new form came into focus.

Aries fell on the floor, laughing uproariously.

"That's not a dog," Sev pointed out, raising an amused eyebrow.

Charles-the-ferret squeaked indignantly. He turned back, and even the sound of the transformation seemed angry. The youth cursed up a storm, using words Aries was shocked he even knew – even a few terms he had been sure were purely muggle – before finally settling down enough to ask why that had happened. With lots of cursing intermittent in the question, but he had asked.

"Have you ever been turned into a ferret before?" Sev asked, eyes looking eager, as if he thought he knew the answer but was unsure of just one thing. Harry remembered seeing that same look on Hermione's face on more than one occasion.

"Yes," Charles growled. "A senile, paranoid, completely bonkers ex-auror who taught at my school once transformed me and slammed me against he floor a couple times. Why?"

Aries, having caught on, picked up one of the instructional books and read a passage aloud.

"'One of the reasons so few people ever use the Minimus spell'," he quoted, "'is that it is highly affected by previous self-transfigurations. If the Primus spell were performed prior to attempting the Minimus, the forms would be the same, even if the Primus form would normally be too advanced for a Minimus form. By the same token, if a person had ever, in the course of their education, changed him or herself into some object or other, the Minimus spell would be ineffective.' I guess that, when the auror turned you into a ferret, that counted as a self-transfiguration. So you're, er, rather stuck with it."

Charles glared at them with a fierceness to rival the older Snape's and stormed out. As soon as he was gone, Aries collapsed in laughter again.

"I fail to see just what is so amusing," Severus drawled, examining the passage in his own book that Aries had quoted.

"When we were hanging out here over the end of summer break," Aries lied smoothly, using an occurrence from sixth year, "Charles poked fun at how quiet I was until I got angry and said he was just a chattery little ferret. Oh, he glared at me so hard, and now I see why, and he really is a ferret!" He collapsed into laughter again, Severus chuckling along with him. Finally, when it was almost time for dinner, they managed to calm down, and Aries congratulated him on his mastery of the spell.

Later that evening, as he had done every alternate evening previous, after the first tutoring session, Aries returned to the Room of Requirement. As he paced in front of the wall, he imagined a training room, with illusions of death eaters and dangerous creatures and even muggles – just real enough for him to get into the fight, not real enough to cause serious damage; he didn't want to have to explain a gunshot wound to Madam Pomfrey. From the moment he entered until the simulation ended after two or three hours (depending on how much magic he'd used that day), Aries would be kept on his toes, shooting spell after spell after spell until he was nicely exhausted. The other nights, he left the room in its arena form and worked the weights or ran laps until he could barely move – he always made sure to add on a bathroom before he went in, as he rarely had enough energy before a good soak to walk all the way to the prefect's bathroom.

Both of these nights served the same purpose – to expand his strength by testing its limits. Finally, after keeping with a strict schedule for two months solid, he was beginning to show the results. He could now easily bench a few 10-sets of 70 kilos – more than ever before – run a 6 minute mile, and do 200 sit-ups in one sitting, though he felt like throwing up afterwards. More than that, his magic had expanded so that he needed to consciously regulate the power needed for what used to be extremely draining spells, such as the patronus. The first time the Room had thought to throw dementors at him had been a week after the Ferret Incident, and he'd accidentally shot two stags out of his wand at once. Each session left him so tired that he slept long and deep, feeling more refreshed afterward than he had since the nightmares started after first year, especially on the weekend, when he could sleep a full nine hours without interruption.

He knew that his dorm mates knew he was out late each night, but without the map they had no way of knowing where he was going. Short of following him, that is. He figured they would probably try it eventually, but he cast a Listening Charm on himself while he was walking to and from – if anyone were near enough to see him, he would hear them.

Tonight he wanted to try out a new curse he'd found in a book under Charles' bed. Called the de-clawing jinx, it could remove anything sharp from it's place, be it a dagger blade, the point of a stake, or – hence the name – something's claw. The book didn't say whether the removal was painful or not, so he wanted to try it on the Room's illusions before he had to use it on something else. If it was painful, he'd mentally file it under 'last resorts', but if it wasn't, it could be really useful in a variety of situations.

Inside, the Room had taken on a jungle appearance. Wondering what it would come up with for him to face, Aries crouched by a tree in some underbrush and waited, breathing as quietly as he could. All around him leaves rustled and varieties of birds cried out shrill warnings. Suddenly, an arrow imbedded itself with a sickening THUNK into the tree, just inches above his head. He turned to see a naga holding a bow, already notched with another arrow. The naga let the arrow loose and Aries frantically waved his wand.

"_Amoveo Mucro_," he shouted. The tip of the arrow fell to the earthy floor, causing the shaft to loose balance and barrel roll into a bush three feet away. The naga hissed and lunged, huge mouth open wide, baring a row of two-centimeter fangs. Aries shouted the spell again, putting more power into it, and all suddenly the naga had nothing but two rows of pink flesh.

Stunned, the snake-woman reared back and fingered her gums with a look of confusion; but no pain. Aries figured that was good enough and let the Room know he wanted to start the regular training now.

Two hours later, he stumbled from the bath and staggered toward the dorms, grateful that it was the weekend and he could sleep in later than usual. He barely paid attention to where he was going, only keeping half an ear out for Filch – Mrs. Norris he'd charmed with his cat form, so she didn't cause him any trouble. Somehow, he made it back up to the dormitory without any recollection of giving the pink lady the password. And as he dropped into bed, he completely failed to notice the small puddle of musk he'd left his shoes in.

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The next day after lunch, Charles decided that if he had to be a ferret – _a bloody ferret! He was going to kill Moody!_ – then he was going to enjoy himself. He had finished his homework Friday and Saturday, and sleeping in until almost noon on Sunday had left him energized and ready for anything. Checking to make sure non of his dorm-mates were there (Aries was, but he was still snoring), Charles focused on the spell and transformed, for the third time in his life – _Kill! Moody!_ – into a snow white ferret.

Suddenly the small dorm with barely enough room for six teenage boys and they're belongings seemed huge, as large as the Great Hall! He tentatively – it was a _long_ way down – hopped off the bed, only to find the landing refreshingly soft. After a few failed attempts to right himself, Charles remembered that ferrets aren't bipedal and thanked the founders that no one had been watching, deciding to just let instinct guide him. After that, motion became incredibly easy and he fairly flew across the floor, scampering over piles of clothes and books as if they weren't even there. He jumped onto one of the Marauders' beds and tousled up the covers. Under the pillow, he found a silvery, fluid material that smelled like magic (a phenomenon he couldn't explain if he tried). This was the famous invisibility cloak. The one that would in the future lead a thirteen year old Harry Potter to throw mud at him and that, currently, the Marauders used to sneak about. He would have loved to steal it, but Black would probably lay the blame on Aries and Charles just didn't want to have to deal with another bout of animosity between the brunet and the Marauders – not to mention the pitiful grieving looks Aries would get whenever arguments broke out.

Huffing in an unfortunately high pitched, ferrety way, Charles hopped back onto the floor. Suddenly quite discontented to stay in the dorm, he scurried to the door. It was heavy – practically impossible for a ferret to move – but the one inch gap left ajar was more than wide enough for his little body to squeeze through and soon he was out and about.

The Gryffindors hanging out in their common room didn't even notice him as he ran silently along the base of the wall to a shadowy corner. Someone had left their bag there – a girl if the smell of perfume coming from inside were any indication – and he slipped inside, hiding under a book.

There was a half-finished bag of Berti Bott's Every Flavor Beans inside and Charles reached inside and took one – quite pleased that his new front feet actually worked well as hands, too; much better than the paws of a dog. The candy was the size of a large sandwich, but he stuffed it into his mouth whole and bit down. Recognizing immediately the taste of sardine, Charles prepared to spit it out, but a moment more and he realized it actually tasted rather good. The texture seemed a bit off from what his ferret-side would prefer; as soon as that thought entered, he decided to stop analyzing the experience as he really didn't want to know what sort of texture a ferret would like.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake horribly, shifting books fell on him and he scrambled to the top of the bag and peaked out.

Oh. He realized with would-be-blushing embarrassment that the bag had been picked up by its owner. They were now strolling down the halls of Hogwarts. More interestingly, the bag seemed to be owned by Lily Evans, and the red head was muttering absently to herself.

"Where is he? He knows we have to head the prefect meetings right before lunch every Sunday. He knows! I know he knows; he came to the last seven. Where is he. Probably out showing off or picking on Slytherins. Oh, that's not fair, he's been acting a lot better lately. Maybe he just forgot, that's it. I bet he forgot."

By the time she had finished deciding that James Potter – because who else would Evans be muttering about? – was indeed a decent human being, the two of them had arrived at the library.

What should have been the typical dull silence of a near abandoned study area was full of frighteningly interesting noises. Little things, like the sound of a book tipping over on its neighbors, made his head whip around to find the source. As soon as Lily dropped her bag – none to gently, either; thank goodness he was Ferret the Invincible – on the table, Charles scurried out and hopped onto the floor, running for the shadows under a bookshelf before he could be seen.

Oh and there were so many things to see here! And smell, oh the smells! How did he ever live without this sense of smell, how did he never notice how blind he was with nothing but a stupid human nose? He could smell not just that the many-months-old gum stuck to the underside of the bookshelf was cherry flavored, but also that the person to chew it had been male, and someone he knew. Charles was even able to tell that the last animal here had been a frog who had hopped through two days ago. He followed the trail of frog-scent until he got bored and moved on.

The ex-Slytherin continued to play like this for a long time, nibbling indiscriminately on any bits of food he could find – which he was sure would disgust himself if he were human, but to a ferret, a chocolate frog leg was a chocolate frog leg, discarded under a study table or no. He had come across a few more deposits of that cherry flavored gum, but was able to keep himself from tasting it by a firm reminder that, while the other food bits had only touched the ground, the gum had actually been in some human's disgusting mouth. He was sure he'd be quite grateful for this bit of logic later, when his stomach wasn't quite so empty.

"Peter, that's disgusting!" Charles hear Remus Lupin snap from very close. Suddenly, a chubby finger reached under the bookcase and stuck cherry flavored gum to the wood.

Moment of gratitude now.

Shuddering at the thought of what he had been smelling – Peter was worse than Longbottom, and that was saying something! – Charles decided it was probably time to feed himself properly.

Now…how to do it…

…

He couldn't just transform, he'd have to be someplace private for that, and there weren't terribly many private places in a library.

"Come on, Moony," Black's voice drifted over to him, "enough studying. Let's get some dinner, eh?"

"Alright, alright," Lupin sighed, "I'm done anyway. Thank goodness, since we're going to busy tonight."

Potter shushed him, though it was clearly done through a smile. "You'll get us caught."

"No," Lupin said, also with a smile, "acting like you don't want to get caught, will get you caught. Anyway, let's go."

Charles ran as fast as his little legs could carry him and jumped into Lupin's bag just as he hoisted it on his shoulder. The werewolf's nose twitched and Charles willed him not to notice.

"Peter," scolded Lupin, "how many times have I asked you to wash after you transform? You smell like rodent."

"S-sorry Remus," Peter stammered. "Must've forgotten."

A few moments of jostling and swaying later, they arrived at the Great Hall. The noise and smells were almost overpowering, and it was all Charles could do to wait until the Marauders weren't looking before slipping onto the floor and eating the first dropped roll he could get his paws on. Bits of ham were next on the menu and he ate those with equal relish. Apparently, his ferret-stomach could take quite a bit more, proportionally, than his human stomach, because he was sure he had eaten at least a quarter of his body weight before settling, sated, in Remus' bag to wait.

He must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew, he was lying under several books at the bottom of the bag, which had just been tossed onto a bed.

"You got the cloak?"

"I've got the cloak. You sure he put his shoes in the musk before he left?"

"They steeped there all night, I checked when I woke up."

"Good, let's go check what our little friend gets up to in the evenings, shall we?"

"Let's."

The flurry of voices was punctuated by the creaky sound of the door opening. Charles was suddenly wide awake. He had to take several moments to untangle himself from books and bag, but managed to make it out of the door just before it shut. Ahead of him were three presences he could smell and hear, but not see, and a rat.

"Alright, Wormtail. You know what to do," came Potter's disembodied voice. The rat squeaked once, then turned and started sniffing the ground. He moved a few feet, sniffed, moved, sniffed, and moved again until Sirius finally snapped.

"We know he went out the bloody portrait hole, so start from there!" he hissed. The rat squeaked embarrassedly and darted down the rest of the stairs and through the common room, the other three Marauders following close, and Charles following them.

Once outside, Pettigrew started his sniff/move pattern again. It wasn't until they were almost to the seventh floor that Charles realized they must be after Aries, who had apparently gone to the Room of Requirement again.

"We'll wait here," Lupin said suddenly, stopping the strange procession. "You go on ahead until you find him, then come back and tell us. This slow moving is driving me crazy."

The others muttered agreement and Pettigrew squeaked and scurried off. Charles, careful to stay where he didn't think the humans could see him, followed a few feet behind until he was sure they were out of sight.

Now, Charles knew that Pettigrew was the traitor, had known since the summer before fifth year. He _hadn't_ known that Aries knew until the welcoming feast, where the Gryffindor had nearly sent a death glare at someone he was supposed to have just met. He was therefore able to reason that Aries had probably become close to his godfather before the man's sudden death – something his mother had mentioned in passing with a face that could almost be called mournful.

Charles didn't know what the future would bring, where his loyalties would lie when he was finally free to be Draco Malfoy again, but he knew that, as Charles Higgins III, he counted Aries Hesuchazo as a friend, and he was nothing if not loyal to his friends.

Anyone who hurt them – past, present, or future – would pay.

As soon as they were in the shadows and sufficiently hidden, Charles scurried up so he was almost alongside the rat and tapped him on the shoulder with one hand-like paw.

Pettigrew stopped and looked over, startled, and Charles used the opportunity to rear back on his hind legs and deliver a punch any ferret could be proud of. The rat fell to the ground, unconscious.

In an instant, the redhead had un-transformed and drew his wand.

"_Obliviate,_" he whispered, aiming the spell at the last fifteen minutes, then used a shaving charm to scribble a frowning face with it's tongue sticking out – a symbol granger had once drawn on his Transfiguration test when they'd had to grade each others' – on his back before banishing him back to his waiting friends.

Feeling highly self-satisfied, Charles stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled to the Room to see what Aries was up to.

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**A/N:** More reviewer-thanking/responding! Yaaaay!

Kayrana – yes, triple super-duper happy! I don't know that one can explode from happiness, though ;P

dairygirl – There will be more interaction with Harry's parents, yes. I want to get one thing straight, though, for all my readers. This isn't going to be slash of any sort, as a matter of fact I was planning on it being gen, so don't hold your breath waiting for any Harry/Draco action, kay?

Cartoon-Protector – right on! The only other thing he could be, I guess, would be a broken mirror – but that's already happened and isn't exactly an animal, so black cat it was XP. I'm glad you liked the scar, I've found that most Harry/Animagus fics have a lighting-shaped patch of fur or feathers, but that doesn't make sense to me, since it's a scar. Meh.

padfootismyking – I'm so glad I have the support of the duckies of doom! They're not the sort I'd want as enemies.

veronik – Hope this is soon enough!

ashibabi – ah, gotcha. Less confused now XP

HandsOff – I am!

Len87 – I like making people happy, and clappy, and skippy, so I'm glad you read my fic!

maleficus-lupus – thanks, I haven't read too many time-travel fics, actually, but I'm glad mine isn't clicheted.

Dragenphly – such praise! I hope this chapter helps sate your devastation.

Mika Marie – I'm not sayin' nuffink ;)


	6. Reconciliations

**Disclaimer: **Jo's world, I just live there.

**Summary: **Voldemort has a plan to catch Harry out of bounds and cast a spell to send him back two hundred years, but all does not go as planned and Harry isn't as gone as he'd thought...

**Chapter 6:****Reconciliations**

The very next day after the 'ferret vs. rat' incident, the Marauders changed tactics entirely. While Aries and Charles both feigned complete innocence, even when a few surprisingly subtle hints were dropped, the four friends still assumed Aries had been behind it all and had apparently decided they were better off leaving the brunet alone. None of them had said a word to him for a week now, and they had gradually gotten more and more tolerant, until Aries could do his homework in the dorm while the Marauders were huddled together to plan.

Such was the situation in early December when Aries threw his quill down in disgust, swearing fluently for a full minute. Sirius quickly took out a quill and parchment of his own to copy down the more inventive phrases.

"Something the matter?" Charles asked mildly.

Aries shot him a glare and gestured at his homework. "It's this," swear, swear, "Ancient Runes! I've looked it up in half the Runes books in the library, but I just don't get it."

Charles shook his head, smirking. "How can you catch up on five years of Arithmancy in two months, but still be struggling in Runes after four?"

"Yeah, that's helpful," Aries sneered, "thank you for pointing out what I already know. Now I understand and can easily write this two foot essay on 'how magical flow affected the original formation of Raidho and how the same can be manipulated for spells and potions'. Thank you so much."

"You got Raidho?" Remus spoke up suddenly. Before Sirius' glare could stop him, the werewolf had jumped off his bed and strolled over to Aries' desk. "You're lucky, I got Thurisaz; that's just plain embarrassing."

Aries winced – Thurisaz was the rune of, among other things, male sexuality. He was suddenly profoundly grateful for his own topic. Remus tipped Aries' parchment so he could read it, azure eyes scanning over the paragraph he had written.

"This is actually pretty good," he said approvingly. "I think I can see where you're becoming confused though. Would you like my help?"

Aries hesitated for a moment; Remus was a little too close to his past/future self for comfort, but at the same time what he had told Charles was true. Remus held the same position as Snape in that he was still alive – so there wouldn't be any temptation to prevent his death with a word or two – and he was still worthy of respect – unlike Pettigrew or even, he admitted reluctantly, Sirius. Plus, he _really_ needed help.

"That would be great!" he said enthusiastically. Remus grinned and turned back to the paper.

"Okay, I think what you're missing here is the basics." He pointed out a few sentences. "Do you know what magical flow is?"

"Of course, it's the flow of raw magic within the Earth itself, but I don't understand how that could possibly have anything to do with runic formation!"

Remus frowned in thought. "You've grown into your Magic Sight, right? You can 'see' spells in the Magical Sense Spectrum?" he asked. Aries nodded. "Okay, cast a small shield in front of you."

Wondering what the other boy was getting at, Aries raised his wand and cast _protego_, automatically shifting his perception so he could see the tiny threads of magic that made up the shield. He looked at Remus and realized that, with Magic Sight, he could almost make out the specter of a wolf in the boy's aura. The image was interesting and he was sorely tempted to stare, but instead moved his gaze to the werewolf's face.

"Now what?"

"Look really closely at the threads, watch how they interlink." Remus brought up one finger and traced the shield, looking for something. Finally, he smiled triumphantly and lightly tapped one small area. "See? Eihwaz, the rune of protection. And here," he tapped a spot a few inches to the right. "Algiz, the rune of defense. You know, James' main rune is Algiz."

Aries could imagine, since Algiz was the Elk rune. As he looked closely at his father, he could see the specter of a stag, as well as a faint intersection of lines that he had to admit looked like Algiz.

"Okay, so the runes appear in the natural flow of the magic when you cast a spell that coincides with their elements," Aries agreed. "But raw magic doesn't have intention or anything like that, so how can it affect, or be affected by, runes?"

"Raw magic doesn't have intention, that's true," Remus nodded. "However, raw magic flows through the Earth just like your magic flowed in your shield, and it has sort of…coincidentally formed into the runes. Hogwarts sits over the largest Eihwaz form in Europe, which is why no one has ever been able to storm the castle. You see, the magic may not have intention, but because it intersected in certain ways, it was…tainted, I guess you could say. Turned towards certain traits, characteristics that then became associated with the runic forms. You see?"

Aries nodded slowly. "So, Raidho would naturally occur under the best roads, or favorite trade routes, because the magic flow around those areas formed the runic symbol, and made it a good place for transportation and journeying? And Raidho would also appear in summoning and banishing spells, apparition, portkeys, floo…I think I get it now! Thanks, Remus."

"No problem," the werewolf grinned and padded back to his friends, who had watched the entire scene with something like morbid fascination. "If you ever need help on that again, you just ask me, okay?"

"Will do," Aries promised, returning to his assignment with relish. With a practical demonstration, all that he had read suddenly made a lot more sense, rather than being just gibberish, and he easily finished off the last foot and a half.

After that, Remus partnered Aries in every Runes class, and often in Arithmancy as well, patiently and aptly explaining things when the brunet was having trouble. They could both tell James and Sirius didn't like it, but if they hadn't shunned their friend over lycanthropy they weren't going to over a little tutoring.

Ever since his secret got out, Charles and Sev had started joining Aries in his nightly exercises. On the physical days, Aries would direct them through his early routine, helping them get used to the excessive physical activity. The two were sore and grouchy for almost a full week before their bodies adjusted. Aries wondered if Sev sometimes had nightmares, as he almost always did the physical exercises and praised them for the good night's sleep he would get after. After all, if anyone knew the benefit of exhaustion in conquering nightmares, it was Aries.

Charles, on the other hand, complained constantly about sore muscles, adamantly refused to lift weights, and whined about "sweating like some unrefined manual laborer" so much that Aries and Sev collaborated to throw him in the Olympic sized swimming pool (a feature that Aries had added at the start of the Quidditch season, needing the feeling of weightlessness). After that, Charles shut up and practiced fencing on physical days.

The magical practice days they all worked together were amusing, to say the least. Aries was far too used to working on his own, and often got in the way of something Charles or Sev was trying to do, or simply disappear, so intent on a plan of his own that he forgot to tell the others what he was on about; Charles froze up for several seconds when something surprised him and tended toward complicated plots instead of the more simple solutions; and Severus had lousy spellwork, sometimes only putting half the power needed into a spell – like a stunning curse he had cast on Aries by accident that only made the Gryffindor yawn a bit. Still, they had fun, and they knew their power was growing. During their Saturday sessions, Aries had started them on the Patronus charm, but neither had produced more than a weak mist. With more exercise, he was sure both would soon manage it.

It was during a Saturday defense practice right after a session of Runes homework with Remus that Aries came up with an idea. He felt he had to pay Remus back somehow for the help he had given – his grades had risen markedly since the tutoring started – and had finally thought of something that might help. He would need to make sure it was alright with the others first.

"I was wondering," he started casually, "would you guys mind if I invited Remus to a few of our practices? He'd probably have to come late because of Potter and Black's Quidditch practice, but–"

"Absolutely not!" Sev snapped. "I mind very much!"

Aries blinked, stunned by the emphatic response. Why was Sev so against it? It couldn't be just because Remus was a Marauder. He even seemed to be afraid…

Oh. Of course. The 'prank' must have already happened. Funny, he'd always imagined it happening in seventh year, but he didn't think he'd missed it happening.

Severus sighed at his friends' stunned expressions, thinking they didn't know. "There is…a side to Lupin that you haven't seen, and I hope you never do, but I have, and I refuse to be around him more than absolutely necessary. You may invite him if you wish, but I will not be here if you do"

He started to walk out the door and Aries stepped forward quickly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, it's alright, Sev," he reassured the Slytherin. "If you don't want him here, I won't invite him. Now how about you come back here and we'll try the patronus charm some more."

Severus searched his eyes intently, looking for something specific, but Aries didn't know what. He occluded his mind just in case, letting only his general sincerity show through. Evidently that was what his friend was looking for, as he nodded sharply and moved back to the arena area.

They had been working on the Patronus charm for three weeks straight, now. Aries said that as soon as Sev and Charles both could get a corporeal form, he would find a more practical way for them to practice. Neither knew, or wanted to know, what he meant, which caused Aries no small amount of amusement. He made sure to bring it up at least twice a week, just to see the hesitant looks that passed between them. What they didn't know was that he had, through a few late night wanderings those few nights he wasn't too tired to stand, procured a boggart (an experience which reminded him quite firmly of just _why_ he hated dementors). It was currently stored in a chest in Myrtle's bathroom; further threats had earned the ghost's silence on the matter.

And tonight was the lucky night, Aries would have to be getting that boggart out in a week. In the second hour of the session, Severus produced a powdery bat that fluttered around the room before disappearing. Charles had to work a bit longer, his determination taking on a new cast. Finally, Aries stopped him.

"Jealousy is a negative emotion and will interfere," he said quietly. "Focus, and remember happy times."

Charles shot him an indignant glare for the jealousy comment, but forcefully bit back any snide remarks that came to mind. He shoved aside feelings of anger, envy, inferiority, defiance, pride, and concentrated on the memory – a bittersweet nostalgia, recalling when his normally fairly reserved father had told him he was proud of him and given him a hug because he got his Hogwarts letter. He opened his eyes, surprised that he had closed them, and saw a great arctic wolf staring back at him, it's tongue lolling out as if in laughter. It gradually returned to it's misty state, becoming wisps of smoke that blew away in a nonexistent breeze.

The three of them cheered and Aries pulled out some celebratory butterbeers he'd been saving. Charles scoffed and muttered about plebian drinks, but practically downed half his bottle in one go. They laughed and chatted until dinner was half over, arriving in the Great Hall just in time for the pudding.

Aries wasn't at breakfast the next morning, savoring the luxury of sleeping in while his body and magic were replenished and strengthened, so he was rather shocked to find Sev by the lake when he went for a walk. The Slytherin was throwing rocks out over the water, skipping some, but mostly just throwing, with one hand, the other hand clutched impossibly tight over a letter. The brunet, wanting to help but knowing that Sev wanted quiet, wandered around close by, gathering rocks which he piled at his friend's side. By the time the pile had reached Severus' knee, the tension had gone and the black-haired boy was chuckling slightly.

"You are an odd one, Aries," he said dryly. Aries smirked up at him.

"I know," he responded with a shrug. "Do you want to talk about it."

Sev sighed, binging his clenched fist around in front of him and opening it, smoothing out the letter parchment.

"It's nothing big, really," he muttered morosely. "My father wishes me home for Christmas break. I would prefer not to go, as Mother is sure to host a grand party where Father can show off his 'prize eldest' Aurelius."

"You have a brother?" Aries asked, more shocked and stunned than he should have been, given that he already knew Sev had a family. Why shouldn't he have siblings?

"Indeed," Sev sneered, then deepened his voice, imitating his father, "Aurelius Septemius Snape, heir to the Snape line, Auror of the highest degree, achieved 12 OWLS and 7 NEWTS, best in his class in all the _important_ subjects. He'll be a fine successor.' The introduction is always the same. I apologize, this is hardly your concern."

"Don't be stupid," Aries scoffed, "if you can't talk about your troubles to your friends, who _can_ you talk to?"

Sev looked at him skeptically, but took his words to heart and continued. "Whenever my father introduces me, which isn't often anyway, he says 'That's my other son, Severus. You'll have to excuse him.' My father was never terribly good at potions, so he puts all the emphasis on spell work and, well, you have seen my expertise in that area. I try to compensate by learning everything, even if I can't do it, and continuing to excel in potions, but it is impossible for anyone to get better grades than Potter or Black, with how the teachers favor them, or that Evans mudblood."

Aries gabbed Severus' shoulder and spun him around to face him.

"Severus, I am your friend and I am happy to listen to your troubles, but if you say that word again I will punch you in the mouth and curse you with something unpleasant. Are we clear?"

The black haired teen nodded, looking ashamed. "I apologize, I forgot your mother was muggleborn. I have nothing against them, personally, in truth, it is simply a handy way to rile Potter up."

Aries nodded curtly and turned back to the lake, ready to continue the conversation.

"I'm sorry you have to go through that," he said sincerely. "It must be hard on you, to feel so alienated from your whole family. I suspect your mother dotes on both you and Aurelius equally, trying to make peace, but you don't want peace, you want your father's approval. I also suspect you resent Aurelius for the attention he receives. Am I right?"

Severus simply stared at him in shock, at a loss for words. Aries smirked inside, who better to understand such a situation than himself, the 'burden' of the Dursley family? He had read several books from the library when he was younger, and was almost always able to spot the character with a family almost exactly, if not quite, like his. Tolkein's Faramir and Boromir came to mind most readily, with Severus as Faramir, Arelius as Boromir, spellwork as the lauded tactics and leadership, potions as the disregarded hunting and stealth.

"It would be my guess," Aries went on, "that no matter what your father says, Aurelius would like to be your friend, as well as your brother. Perhaps you should focus on him, instead of your father?"

"You have…a great deal of insight," Severus said shakily. "Thank you for your advice, I will remember it."

Aries nodded, but said nothing, and as the silence began to grow uncomfortable, returned to the castle. If Severus was going to be going home for Christmas Break, he, Aries, would have to give his present early. He didn't want to miss the boy's face when he opened it. After all, he was sure it would be priceless.

That evening, he left half an hour earlier than he normally would for his excercize. Neither Charles or Sev ever joined him on Sunday, as both were usually too tired from Saturday, so he didn't have to worry about one of them waiting. Instead of going to seventh floor, though, he made his way down to the second and headed for the girl's bathroom. Water was in puddles on the floor, but nothing drastic enough for him to give more than a passing notice.

"Hey Myrtle," he called softly, "someone's talking about you in the prefect's bathroom, you might ought to go see."

There was no response, so Aries figured he could safely assume the ghost wasn't there. He quickly found the fake sink with the snake carving and, moments later, dropped down into the Chamber of Secrets.

The smell was as bad as ever, and he proceeded as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake the basilisk that would still inhabit the place. Luckily, his destination wasn't anywhere near the beast's lair.

Just a few meters beyond the entrance area was a 25-foot basilisk skin, so fresh now that it looked even more alive than it had/would in his second year. Aries didn't waste any more time, he brought out his knife and cut a six inch by six inch square of the leather-like skin, one of the rarest potion ingredients in the world.

The next Friday, after dinner, found Aries walking down to the Slytherin common room, wrapped box in hand. This was the last day before those students not staying at Hogwarts would be sent to Hogsmead station. As Severus had expressed a desire to not publicly display their friendship, Aries figured walking the Slytherin to the train and giving the gift to him there wouldn't be welcome.

"What are you doing?" His mother's voice caught him off guard and he jumped about a foot, spinning around to face the lovely redhead.

"What?" He wasn't out after curfew, and he wasn't breaking any rules, so why did she look so hostile? "I…I'm just…delivering a present…for a friend."

"In the dungeons?" she asked primly. "Because Ravenclaw and Gryffindor are upstairs and Hufflepuff is on the north side of the castle. So a Slytherin? Please excuse me if I'm skeptical."

"Er…" Aries didn't know what to say.

Most of the people he had classes with were aware of his friendship with Sev. But now that he thought about it, every time he, Sev, and Lily were in the same room, the girl was either talking with one of her friends or deeply engrossed in a book or watching the teacher, basically ignoring him as fiercely as possible. He'd been so caught up in alienating his father's friends without actually making them enemies that he hadn't even realized he'd alienated his mother.

"May I see that please?" she demanded. Aries handed it over unthinkingly and she ripped off the paper and opened it up. "What is this, garbage? What a horrible thing to do to a person. We're going to the headmaster."

He suddenly had a flash of just what Hermione might have been like had he and Ron never befriended her.

Moments later, they were up in Dumbledore's office and Lily was wielding the package like precious evidence.

"Sir, I told you those four would be a bad influence," she said mildly, "I just caught him heading to the Slytherin dungeons to give one of them a gag gift."

Dumbledore gently took the gift from Lily's hands and opened it, gently lifting out the contents. He looked at Aries with a raised eyebrow.

"Basilisk skin? Might I ask where you got it?"

"Nowhere dangerous or illegal sir, beyond that, I'd rather not say," Aries admitted.

"If it's not dangerous or illegal, why _won't_ you say?" Lily asked.

"Personal privacy," Aries said coolly.

"I assume this is for our young Mr. Snape?" the headmaster queried mildly, avoiding the potential conflict.

Aries nodded enthusiastically and smiled a little. "Do you think he'll like it?"

"I think it is quite an impressive present. He will likely be overcome with potions enthusiasm."

Aries grinned and took the present back, pealing off the torn paper with a muttered, "Crap, now I'll have to re-wrap it."

"But…I don't understand," Lily stammered. "I _heard_ you saying you hate Slytherins that first day."

"And if you'd have heard the rest of what I said, Evans, you would have known that I was ranting to Remus about the lecture I got from Potter and Black about reading in Salazar's Corner. Now if you'll excuse me, I still have a present to deliver, and even less time to do so."

He turned and left the office, stalking down the stairs. His mother caught up with him at the bottom and grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Look, Aries, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I just…I've always hated how those four dealt with Slytherins, and when you showed up, I thought maybe there would finally be one Gryffindor male I could talk to without wanting to hit. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions when you said what you did, and I shouldn't have overreacted. So…just…I'm sorry, okay?"

"It's okay," he smiled. "No harm done."

She smiled back and he went on his way, feeling much lighter.

-888888-

**A/N:** I don't know if I even like this chapter. Lots of important stuff happens, but it's so disjointed. I may go back at a later time to make it flow better. Ah, well, hope you liked it! Now, time to respond to my reviewers -rubs hands together-

ScrewyLouie12: This soon enough?

Kayrana: Well, being a bunny myself, I can' exactly support the burning of kin. But they are pink, which means they are of the devil, so I suppose I could go either way. And I hope you do update every chapter, I look forward to hearing from you!

gaul1: Thanks, bye to you, too.

s.halliwell24: That's the idea, I'm glad you support me, makes me feel validated.

Dragenphly: Yeah, I can't help but chuckle whenever I read a fic that somehow fits ferrets into it, so I'm glad you liked it. And I hope this chapter made you feel better about the Marauders/Lily vs. Aries thing. Will do!

Myrddin Ambrosius: This is what happens next. As you can see, Lily has changed her opinion. I like my Draco, too. And I'm glad to hear he's not too OOC. And this is going all sorts of crazy places.

padfootismyking: That he is ;)

MachiavellianOrange: well, I hope this update came before you disintegrated from not-waiting!

sunny smiles: here is more!

Sealunis: thanks! The face on Peter was a last minute sort of thing that came as I was writing it, so I'm glad someone liked it!

Seralokiiph: Did you get it back on your neck alright? And no, not slash.

veronik: thank you, I'm glad you liked it so much!

dairygirl: yeah, I never liked the idea of Slytherins having absolutely no loyalty, so I figure that, if they ever actually make friends, without a side agenda, they'll do it right and proper. Hope you liked this chapter too!


	7. A Cold Chill

**Disclaimer: **Jo's world, I just live here.

**Summary: **Voldemort has devised a plot to send Harry Potter back in time 200 years, but all does not go as planned, and Harry isn't as gone as he'd like…

**A/N:** I apologize profusely for the lack of update for so long, and for the fact that this isn't a new whole chapter, just the finished chapter 7. I got caught up with MMI, hopefully I can get this back on track now, and start updating both pretty regularly. Hopefully.

**Chapter 7 (the whole thing this time): A Cold Chill**

Aries hurried back up to Gryffindor tower to retrieve more wrapping paper. As he deftly covered the small box, he laughed to himself at how horrified Aunt Petunia would be that the skill she had instilled in him, hoping to make him feel unwanted as he wrapped his cousin's presents, was now being used to wrap basilisk skin for a wizard. She would likely turn that odd shade of puce and dispose of every last bit of wrapping paper in the house. A shame, really, as the deep blue one with silver stars was rather nice.

The wrapping paper he had purchased from the post office in Hogsmead was green with scale texture, and he tied it with a silver ribbon. He'd thought about getting a black ribbon or black paper instead, but it just didn't seem _festive_ enough. Aries had, however, bought a length of gold ribbon to tie Charles' present with, mostly to annoy him. At the base of the bow, he tied on the nametag – useless, really, since he was delivering it in person, but it looked more formal that way.

Satisfied, he rushed back down to the dungeons, taking as many shortcuts as he knew. Barely six minutes later, he stepped out from behind a portrait of three dragons dancing in the air, just a few feet down from the entrance to the Slytherin common room. It had taken a good deal of investigation, but in the middle of the previous year, Aries had finally realized that the entrance could be distinguished from the surrounding wall by a tiny snake carved in one of the stones. Once you knew what to look for, it was obvious. He knocked loudly and waited.

"Hello?" a tiny second year girl asked snootily, pushing open the door from the inside. "What do you want, Gryffindor?"

Aries raised an eyebrow. "I would like to speak with Severus Snape, could you please get him for me," he asked politely.

The girl sneered at him – looking quite frankly ridiculous – and appeared to be about to tell him off when someone pulled her away.

"Hello, Aries," Bellatrix cooed. She had been trying to 'seduce' him for a while now, but every time he saw her, Aries had to stop himself from cursing her into oblivion, so she was getting nowhere fast.

"Black," Aries greeted with a growl. "Either get Severus for me or kindly get out of my way so I can seek him out myself."

Bellatrix pouted, almost making Aries gag, but moved aside. He entered the cavernous common room, shuddering as he felt her eyes checking out his rear end. The layout was the same it had been in second year, though he now knew more about it. Sev had once told Aries that he spent a good deal of his time in the Slytherin study area – a large quiet room with resource books, desks, spare parchment, quills and ink, and a small potion's lab. The proper door was unmarked, but easy to identify as it was far more decorative than the closet doors.

Aries didn't look left or right, walking straight across the hearth as if he belonged there. He knew very well that practically everyone's eyes were on him, but he just opened the door and shut it behind him.

Severus was, of course, at the potions lab, bottling and labeling from what looked like five separate cauldrons. Aries wouldn't be surprised if all the other Slytherins had left that particular area for him alone, deciding it would be better to find their own potion area than to disturb the youth's work. He could just imagine Sev biting the head off some first year who had managed to upset one of his experiments. He'd probably use the same words his future self often used on Neville.

"Can I help?" Aries asked, peering over the edge of the last still-full cauldron.

Severus jumped, almost dropping his vial; there was a tense moment where he fumbled with startled fingers to grasp the slick glass before he finally managed to hold it still again. The Slytherin glared at Aries for the near-miss.

"Sorry," said Aries, unrepentantly. Sev rolled his eyes and managed a slight lift at one corner of his mouth that meant he was not entirely displeased. "I brought your Christmas present. Do you want to open it now or when you're done storing your concoctions?"

Sev raised an eyebrow. "Is 'at Christmas' not an option, then?" he teased.

"Nope," Aries replied candidly, grinning.

"Very well, help me bottle the rest of this and I will open it then," Sev agreed.

They got to work – Aries holding the bottles and Sev ladling the potions – and were finished before a quarter of an hour had passed. As soon as the Slytherin had finished carefully placing all his vials in a carrying case, Aries practically thrust the gift at him. Amusement flashed in Sev's eyes, but he dutifully sat and began to open it, with the same methodical grace with which he did everything. First he read the card, then he untied the bow and carefully undid the ribbon, by the time he finally got one corner of the wrapping opened up, Aries was almost out of his seat with impatient excitement.

Finally – finally! – Sev got down to the box and lifted the lid. Aries watched carefully as confusion, realization, and something close to awed gratitude made their way onto his face in close succession.

"B-basilisk skin?" he stuttered uncharacteristically. Aries nodded happily, feeling very proud of himself. His smile faltered, though, as his friend continued. "I cannot possibly accept this," Sev insisted, trying to hand the box back. Aries didn't take it, feeling as if lead were gathering in his fingers and holding his arms at his sides.

"Why ever not?" he asked. Was it bad? Had he not gathered it right? Was it too old? Did Sev just plain not want it?

"Something this valuable – you can't mean for me to have it without something in return," Severus explained.

Aries almost laughed in relief. Then he thought, _Why not?_ and did laugh in relief.

"Well, I wouldn't mind getting a gift of my own, but it's not mandatory, and certainly not payment for yours," he said. "Don't worry about cost or any of that, I promise it didn't require as much effort as you are likely assuming. You do like it, though, right?"

Severus snorted. "No, I don't have any use at all for one of the rarest and most valuable potions ingredients available," he said sarcastically. Aries grinned a little sheepishly at his own insecurity. "Thank you," Sev added sincerely.

Aries grinned at him and walked with him back to the Slytherin common room. Where he realized that he was out after curfew, deep in Slytherin territory.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Rodolphus Lestrange, known pre-Azkaban for a jealous streak like none other, stepped out of the shadows. "A little bitty Gryffie out after curfew."

Aries froze and reached for his wand, only to remember that his holster had interfered with wrapping Sev's gift, so he had taken it off. And left it behind. With his wand.

"What shall we do with him, Rody-dearest?" Bellatrix cooed, appearing beside the Slytherin and latching onto his arm. Rodolphus glanced at her before smirking triumphantly back at Aries, who barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes. Like he would _want_ to steal Bellatrix from her future husband.

"Well, we can't just let him leave," Rodolphus sneered. "He'd get caught and given detention."

"Poor thing," Bellatrix added. "Then we shall have to keep him here, shan't we?"

"I think I'll take my chances in the halls, thanks," said Aries, walking off. He hadn't made it more than a few steps before he saw the felt the flash of a spell behind him.

Aries ducked and rolled forward and slightly to the right, coming up nearer the entrance, but out of line and turned sideways to his attackers. Not sparing a moment, he bolted for the door, but didn't quite make it before he felt an itching hex hit his back. The magic spread quickly over his skin, making him want to curl up in a ball and scratch himself bloody. Desperately, he resisted the urge and wrenched the stone portal open, slipping through just before another hex came flying at him.

It would be safest, in the darkness of the halls, to transform into minimus form, but the cat's instinct to scratch would be considerably harder to ignore than his own. The worst thing about the itching hex was not the itch itself, but the potential damage that could be done by the victim. Those who had been left under it for more than a day had been known to scratch most of the skin from their body and leave long gouges in their flesh in futile efforts to quell the incessant itch. If only he hadn't been so absent-minded as to leave his wand in the dorm!

Aries growled, these thoughts were getting him nowhere – literally. He hadn't moved from the area just in front of the Slytherin dorms. Focusing, the Gryffindor forced his legs to move, despite the horrible sensation of fabric pulling against his hexed skin. If he could just get up to the tower and his wand without ripping some part of his body off, he'd be in good shape.

Each step was agony and he had to force himself to complete the motions as he slowly passed out of the dungeons. The stairs were the worst, and he had to go on hands and knees to manage them. The stone was cool and firm under his hands, offering some small comfort as he pushed himself on. Right arm – lift, place, push. Left leg – lift, place, push. Left arm – lift, place, push. Right leg – lift, place, push. Over and over and over until he reached the fourth floor and nearly collapsed in front of the Pink Lady.

"Par…Parsimony," he gasped, sighing in relief as the portrait swung open. He slowly climbed through it then collapsed on the carpeted floor of the common room, one leg twitching incessantly.

_Maybe I'll just lie here for a bit before going to the dorm_, he thought exhaustedly. _Yeah, that sounds good._

"Aries!" he heard someone nearby exclaim. The brunet opened one eye (when had he closed them?) and espied Charles standing over him with mixed concern, confusion, and amusement written clearly on his face.

"Evening Higgins," Aries slurred. "D'you know the counter-charm to the Itching Hex?"

Charles cursed. "Yeah, hang on," he waved his wand and muttered, "_scabio subvenius_."

Instantly, his skin spotted feeling as if sand was stuck under it. All that was left was a vague feeling of chill, but that was a normal after-effect of the hex. One of the body's reactions to the itch was to constrict the blood vessels, reducing flow of warm blood to the skin, where thermal sensing nerves lay. Luckily, this was an easily solved problem, as the fire was still roaring in the grate.

"Thank you _so_ much, Charles," Aries breathed, stretching out his tense muscles as he slowly stood. "What are you doing down here this late?" he asked curiously.

"Are you slow or something?" Charles sneered. "You agreed to meet me down here tonight to talk about the break."

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Aries apologized, ducking his head sheepishly as he slouched down in front of the fire. "A lot of things happened tonight and it sort of slipped my mind."

"Like what?"

Aries told him about bumping into Lily on his way down to give Sev his gift, goin to Dumbledore's, having to rewrap it (and taking off his wrist holster to do so), giving the gift, and finally being ambushed by Rodolphus and Bellatrix, referring to the Slytherin girl by several colorful epithets along the way.

"I swear," Charles shook his head, chuckling slightly. "Only you could get into that much trouble."

Aries snorted. "Ah yes, as it is my fault Evans misunderstood me, that Black whore has started eying me, and Rodolphus is jealous and vindictive," he drawled sarcastically. "Though I will admit it was my own folly to leave my wand behind. In any case, what did you want to talk about?"

"I was just wondering if it might seem…suspicious for us to stay here for the break," said Charles. "Especially for you, with your supposedly over-protective family. I can easily get away with the excuse that it wouldn't be practical to travel to America for three weeks."

Aries blinked. He hadn't thought about that. What would he say if asked? He knew for a fact that, if he _did_ have a family waiting for him, no matter how over-protective, he would want to go back for Christmas. It was difficult to come up with an imaginary reason to stay away.

"Maybe…maybe my parents are going to Greece for the break, and I decided I would rather stay here than go to a country where no one even speaks my language," he suggested.

Charles thought it over carefully. "Why wouldn't they insist on you coming?" he prodded.

"Well, they tried, but I managed to convince them I'd be happy here, and that I wanted to spend the holiday with my friends – and with Hogwarts' legendary library," Aries answered wryly. "Mum never can resist when I tell her I'm doing research."

"Very good," Charles complimented him. "Are you going to the Room tonight?"

Aries laughed incredulously. "I think I'm tired enough. Besides, I overdid it the night before last with the magic, I think. Need to give myself a day to recover. Don't want to risk magical exhaustion."

Charles gasped and placed one hand over his heart. "Aries Hesuchazo, not risking something! The world must be coming to an end. It's Armageddon I tell you!"

"Prat," Aries teased lightly. They laughed and chatted together for about an hour longer, until Aries almost couldn't talk for yawning. Then they slowly, groggily, made their way back up to bed.

The next few days were, remarkably, nearly cloudless, the sun glinting off the blanket of snow like a million tiny prisms. Aries and Charles decided to use the time off to its fullest, and in the four perfect days had six games of snowball Quidditch, no less than twelve impromptu snowball fights, wrote a naughty limerick in the snow that spanned the entirety of the Quidditch pitch, and made a snowman army each, which they then animated to battle each other. Charles won, but not before Aries' side had stripped him of all but his last three 'men'.

By the end of the day Tuesday, both boys had come down with colds. Madam Pomfrey gave them each a dose of Pepper-Up and told them it was bed rest for a day at least, 'or else'. Neither of them really wanted to find out what came after 'or else', but knowing Madam Pomfrey it would likely be painful and foul-smelling.

"Can you imagine what would happen if Madam Pomfrey was a Death Eater?" Aries murmured amusedly as they left. Charles snorted.

"She'd probably watch the Dark Lord like a hawk, badgering him about his blood pressure," he joked. Inside, though, Charles felt a little twist in his gut. He hadn't thought about Death Eaters or the Dark Lord for a while, but now something came to his attention that he'd been putting off subconsciously since his and Aries' little game of 'twenty questions'.

Should he inform Aries that Severus Snape would one day become a Death Eater himself?

He tried shoving the thought away, but it kept coming back. _This is stupid_, he thought, _Aries Hesuchazo is my friend, not Harry Potter. Why would Aries need to know?_

_Stop lying to yourself! Aries and Potter are one and the same, and _he_ will be shocked and hurt when it happens. At least this way he has some way to prepare himself, maybe even get himself out of the friendship._

_And what would that do to Severus? Losing Aries might be the very thing that pushes him to join._

_Well, that's double reason to tell him, then, because you can't change the future. You can't _not_ tell in the hopes that Aries will keep him away from the Dark Lord._

Tired of the voices arguing in his head, Charles suddenly threw up his hands and dragged Aries into the nearest alcove, almost dislodging the other boy's potion doses in the process.

"Wha- Charles, what are you doing?" Aries asked, watching his friend run ana agitated hand through his hair.

"Look, there's something you need to know, and I don't really know why I should tell you except that it's going to be on my mind forever if I don't," the redhead rambled. He blew air out through his teeth and gathered his thoughts, before blurting out, "Severus is going to be a Death Eater. I don't know when, but sometime within the next couple of years. I just thought you ought to know."

Aries regarded him solemnly, then raised his wand and cast a high-level privacy charm, followed by a silencing ward and a disillusionment ward.

"Malfoy, are you planning on joining Voldemort," he asked bluntly. Draco flinched at the use of his true name.

"I don't…I…" he stammered slightly, then gathered himself together and stood proudly, like the Slytherin and Malfoy he was inside. "No," he said firmly. "I will not join him."

He was slightly surprised at his own answer, but knew it was right. Draco also knew what had happened that had really caused such a change. It was the second Quidditch game of the season, and for some reason Lucius Malfoy had shown up to watch, the 21-year-old accompanied by his 18-year-old fiancé Narcissa Black. After the game, Potter (the elder) and Black (the mutt) had decided to celebrate their win over Slytherin by tormenting Severus in the Entrance Hall by shooting fire spells at him until he backed himself against the wall. Charles and Aries had tried to get to him, but the wall of students that stood between them and the action had been impenetrable, despite their liberal use of magic. Then Lucius had walked in, escorting Narcissa, looked at the seen with impassive eyes, and walked on.

Charles had been outraged that his own father would turn his back on a Slytherin like that. The man who had taught him everything he knew about house pride.

"At Hogwarts, it's Slytherin against the world, so you need to stick with your housemates," he had told Draco just days before he left for school first year. "Unless it is against improbable odds, do not let a student from another house, _especially_ Gryffindor, pick on a Slytherin. Slytherin sticks together, and so Slytherin prospers, remember that."

And he had, he had lived by it, and adored his father because of it. But Lucius Malfoy was nothing but a liar and a hypocrite, turning his back and walking away when the odds were in his favor. Who could admire a man like that?

Despicable.

In front of him now, in the alcove, Harry nodded, a slight smile spreading on his face. "Good," he said. "Then let me ease your worries. Yes, Severus will some day become a Death Eater, but he will also become a spy for the light, and a highly successful and valuable one at that."

Draco nodded, returning the smile. That was actually something he'd suspected during the last year or two in the future. Thankfully, he'd never mentioned it to his father, and it was probably the idea that Severus didn't approve of the Dark Lord that had started him doubting in the first place, now that he thought back.

Aries took down his spells and the two walked back to Gryffindor Tower in silence, except for the occasional sniffle.

That evening they lazed about on couches with big fluffy quilts, cups of hot cocoa (courtesy of the house elves), and books. Aries' was one he had seen in the Room and wanted to take a closer look at. Unfortunately, nothing inside the room could be taken out. He had tied once with his favorite sword, but it had vanished from his hand the moment he stepped through the door. So, the brunet had been forced to seek out a copy in the library.

However, interesting though it was, Aries' mind was not on his book. Instead, it had returned to the conversation he'd had with Charles. It had brought up many questions he really wanted answers to. Some for pure curiosity's sake, such as:

"Why and when did Draco decide he wouldn't be a Death Eater?"

"What is Charles going to do with his life, then?"

"Might his loyalties change back when we return to our own time and he can be himself again?"

And others, of more pressing concern, such as:

"What in all the blue blazes am I going to do when Sev joins Voldemort?"

He didn't turn a page of his book the whole evening.

**A/N: I hope you liked it, like I said, things should be moving along better now. Time to address my wonderful reviewers!**

**My profuse thanks to: Wolflady, NephyRiddle, Vindex, HazelWolf, Pleione, Crissy Potter, Ohime-Yukigi, elsa3beth, Tondo-the-half-elf, WarriorDemon, Shadowed Rains, saFire flame, Agnus Dei, gaul1, Shattered Diamond, Kaaera, darkanglefmhell, OrganiclyMe, Surarrin, magicgirl10, Dragenphly, Rose Of Many Thorns, Jaded Angel8, and DemonBlade. You are all awesome!**

**veronik: **Yeah, TFM is actually more of a prequel than anything. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving writing it, but I can't wait to get you guys caught up so we can start on the present again.

**MachiavellianOrange: This is also my response to all who talked about the Living in the Past situation** Okay, if you go to LittleFlower2004's site now, you can read Living in the Past and you'll see she's totally remade it, turned it into her own story. While still vaguely similar, it is most certainly original work, and actually rather interesting at that. Mind, I've only skimmed it, and probably won't read the whole story until after I'm done with TFM, but it seemed interesting to me. Anyway, that's all I really have to say on the matter, except that I really hope I don't have to deal with something like this with my original works XP

**William Black 54:** Well, Lily/James obviously, beyond that…I think it'll be pretty much gen. No slash at all, I know that for sure. But really, as writers we're advised to write what we know, correct? Well, as I have no experience whatsoever with the 'dating scene', I think anything I wrote on the matter would likely be, well, crappy. Not to mention the fact that the thought of doing so makes me wince. So yeah, sorry if anyone is disappointed by that, but I doubt there'll be any pairings at all.

**King Dimension: **As I told Will, nope. No part, really. I might try and give an excuse as to _why_ there isn't any romance, but that will probably be as far as it goes.

**Laughing Cat: **Remus, and all the Marauders, went home for Christmas hols. Well, Sirius went to James' house, but you know what I mean. So no, Remus isn't there to invite.

**A/N: So, there you have it folks, my pathetically late and unsatisfactory update. Wanna feed my self starved ego? Just click the 'go' button!**

**PANTZ - Emerson**


	8. Return of the Classes

**Disclaimer: **Jo's world, I just live here.

**Summary: **Harry and Draco sent back in time, with a twist!

**-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-**

**Ch.8**

The rest of the break passed by swiftly. On Christmas, Charles got Aries an Overlook Orb – a marble-sized milky white stone with a permanent Notice-Me-Not charm that could be placed on anything so that people wouldn't pay attention to it – and a small pouch of catnip, for which Aries smacked him. The brunet reciprocated with a handmade leather runic band, with Eihwaz and Algiz for protection and Wunjo for fellowship. They both got the same gift from Severus: a vile of Dagr's Light, which allowed the drinker to see everything as if it were daytime, even on the darkest of nights.

Other than that, the last week of the break was spent writing up large amounts of homework. Aries wished he had Remus there while he was doing his Ancient Runes, but managed to do a fairly passable job on his own. Charles finished his homework in record time, then pestered Aries into several games of chess, all of which the redhead won. Aries laughed at the thought of Ron and Malfoy now having _two_ things in common – hair and chess.

Then came that late evening when the carriages pulled up and all the rest of the school piled out and into the Great Hall. The marauders shared a compartment with Lily and greeted Charles – who sat away from Aries, as per usual – warmly. Aries watched as Severus strode with his typical forbidding grace to the Slytherin table. He smiled and waved at his friend, who shot him a shaky half smile back. The Gryffindor raised one eyebrow to indicate his concern – Severus looked somewhat disturbed – but the other boy had already started serving himself, all his attention on the platters of food.

The next chance Aries got to actually talk to Sev was during their potions class that Monday. He could see that the Slytherin was trying to avoid him, but Aries made sure that he got to his friend's side before he could try and get a different partner.

"Hello, Aries," Sev greeted him stiffly.

"Hi, Sev," Aries answered brightly. "How was your break?"

Severus snorted lightly and concentrated on the dragon tongue he was slicing, attempting to ignore the question. Aries was not deterred.

"Did you get any neat presents?" he asked. "What did Charles get you? He refused to tell me."

"Perhaps he felt it was _none of your business_," Sev suggested acidly.

Aries shrugged. "Maybe, you never know with Charles." There was a thick moment of silence before he decided to take the plunge. "So, how did things go with your brother?"

Severus jerked and slammed his knife on the table. "I do believe I was mistaken in the thought that you were part Slytherin, as your obvious obtuseness is purely Gryffindor," he sneered coldly. :Let me say this plainly so that you do not misunderstand me, Hesuchazo: I. Do. Not. Wish. To. Speak. Of. It. Understand?"

"Oh yes, of course," Aries responded pleasantly. "Why didn't you say so? Are the walnuts supposed to be sliced or left whole? I can't remember."

The Slytherin sighed deeply, as if expelling something foul, or admitting defeat, and said weakly, "Sliced."

To any onlookers, it would seem as if Aries had let the matter drop entirely, without giving it another thought. However, the topic of his friend's holiday was still very much on the Gryffindor's mind. It was worrisome that Sev had come back so tense. It was obvious that the most tender subject was his bother; Aries could only hope things hadn't gone _too_ badly in that respect. What if he'd been wrong about Aurelius and instead of being like Faramir, he was like Dudley? What if the 'Auror of the highest degree' enjoyed and reveled in the extra praise and attention from his father, rubbing Severus' lack in his face at every chance? Why, if Sev's brother had done that, he was going to be hearing a thing or two from Aries Hesuchazo. He'd slug him right in the face if he'd said anything to hur–

"Aries!" Severus exclaimed loudly. "Watch your work! You just about cut your finger off! You're bleeding, you bloody oblivious Gryffindor! Professor Velveson, I need to take Aries to the hospital wing."

"Yes, yes, go," the shrewish woman sneered. "I'll grade your potion as it stands, mind you."

Aries looked up, shocked. They were only halfway done! There was no way they could pass if she graded it now! But Severus just nodded and started pulling him by his uninjured hand into the hall.

"Sev," Aries protested, "our grade…"

"Is nothing someone who very nearly cut their own hand off should be worrying about," Severus snapped. "For your information, one less than perfect potion score won't ruin my life or yours, especially because this is our final year at Hogwarts and it is the NEWT scores that really matter."

Aries smiles softly as he let himself be pulled through the halls. It felt rather nice to have someone drag him to the hospital wing again. Hermione had done it before, but she wasn't as good as Sev at finding things wrong with him.

In the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey bustled around tutting and muttering to herself about the idiocy of having dangerous things like knives around. Aries didn't doubt that, if Madam Pomfrey had her way, the world would be nothing but padded walls and safety harnesses.

"What on Earth had you do distracted you'd cut yourself?" Sev demanded once they were in the hallway and alone again. "You're usually so careful."

Aries shrugged bashfully, feeling rather foolish now, but decided it wouldn't do any more harm to just tell Sev the truth.

"I was worrying about you," he admitted. "I wondered if maybe your brother had been mean and started plotting ways to hurt him if that were so."

Sev stopped and turned to him, looking at Aries as though he'd grown another head.

"You were so busy planning revenge for an imagined offense on an _Auror_ that you failed to notice you were dangerously close to permanently mutilating yourself?" the Slytherin scoffed. "You really are a Gryffindor, Aries."

"Hey!" Aries protested, laughing. "You're the one who abandoned a potion to take me to the hospital wing."

He and Sev both chuckled, but Sev seemed rather strained at the end. He took hold of Aries' sleeve and directed him into a little-used side hallway.

"I suppose I owe you an explanation," he said, voice low. Aries started to protest, but Sev held up a hand to stop him. "When I got home, it was just how you had predicted. I spoke to my brother and he seemed so relieved that I didn't…resent him. We spent a good deal of time together and he helped me do my holiday coursework. But…"

"But?" Aries prompted when Sev seemed about to reconsider saying anything. His friend closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"You have to promise me, swear on your life, that you won't tell another soul what I'm about to tell you," Sev demanded. "No writing it down, no speaking of it, don't even hint."

"Alright," Aries agreed solemnly. "I swear that by no action or inaction of mine will another soul, living or dead, learn what you are about to tell me."

Sev nodded, looking around to make sure no one else could hear. "Just three days before the end of break, I was helping Aurelius pack and his sleeve rode up a few inches on his left arm and…I saw…the dark mark."

**-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-**

**A/N: Okay, don't kill me. I know it's short, but there is a reason for that. With the arrival of HBP I thought for sure this would have to be AU now, when I tried so hard to keep it within canon. Then I realized that, with just a few changes, I could actually work this with HBP. Sort of. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a week or two to alter what I have here to continue from HBP. Judging by the number of people who've reviewed in the last four months bugging me to update, I'd probably be lynched if I didn't get something new up along with this announcement, but this is all I could bring myself to do in the old, non-HBP compatible plot. Please forgive!**

**PANTZ - Emerson**


End file.
